Chairpersons of Public Accounts Committees gathered in Thiruvananthapuram on November 3 for a conference focused on improving legislative scrutiny of public spending. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla inaugurated the meeting, according to the Press Information Bureau.
Birla urged committees to examine whether expenditure achieves its intended results, alongside checking accounts and audit findings. He suggested that scrutiny of infrastructure projects should include site visits where appropriate, covering construction quality, completion and compliance with standards.
The opening also addressed the use of data analytics and artificial intelligence to examine large volumes of spending information. Birla called for systematic, time-bound follow-up on audit observations and for states to exchange useful oversight practices.
Parliamentary PAC chairperson K. C. Venugopal proposed discussing at least one committee report and its action-taken report during each parliamentary session. The proposal was presented as a recommendation, not an adopted procedural change. A conference souvenir was also released at the inaugural session.
Illustrative archive photograph: a street in Thiruvananthapuram. This is not a photograph of the PAC conference. Photo: Trivandrum City by Binoy JS, via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0. Display may be resized or cropped. Adaptations remain under the linked licence.
