Discuss the role of departmentally related and financial committees in securing executive accountability. Suggest reforms to make PAC recommendations more effective.

Parliament's committees work as "mini-legislatures". They give each ministry the detailed, year-round scrutiny that the House floor cannot. There are 24 Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs), which cover every ministry [2], and three financial committees that follow the money. How much they achieve depends on whether the government acts on what they find.

Role of DRSCs: scrutiny before spending

• Demands for Grants: since 1993, they examine each ministry's budget demands before the House votes on them [2].
• Bills and policy: they hear experts and stakeholders on referred Bills, away from the partisan atmosphere of the floor.
• Continuous oversight: they also review ministries' annual reports, so a ministry is examined beyond the budget session [2].

Role of financial committees

• PAC (scrutiny after spending): examines the Appropriation and Finance Accounts and the CAG Reports on them. Ministers are barred from membership and an Opposition MP chairs it by convention [1].
• Estimates Committee: suggests economies and efficiency. In 2025 the Speaker urged it to use AI and data analytics in expenditure oversight [3].
• COPU: uses CAG audits to examine public sector undertakings.
• Follow-up: the government reports which recommendations it accepted, and the PAC presents Action Taken Reports [1].

Limitations

• Late audit: CAG reports reach legislatures years after the money is spent, when officers have moved on. Some governments also delay tabling them [4].
• Backlog: the 16th Lok Sabha PAC found 722 audit paras still pending with ministries as on 30.06.2013 [5].
• Weak design: recommendations are advisory, and the committee is reconstituted every year, so it loses continuity [1].

Reforms for PAC effectiveness

• Tabling deadline: write a fixed time limit for tabling CAG reports into the Rules of Procedure. PAC chairs of Parliament and 25 States asked for this in November 2026 [4].
• ATN deadline: set binding deadlines for Action Taken Notes, publish a ministry-wise list of pending notes, and make the Secretary personally answerable.
• Forensic tools: use data analytics to choose which audit paras get a hearing [4][3].
• Continuity: give members a two-year term or set up subject sub-committees so cases are not lost.
• Rejected recommendations: make a House debate compulsory when the government rejects a PAC recommendation.

Together, the DRSCs check spending before it happens and the financial committees check it afterwards. Both are needed for executive accountability. Deadlines, better data tools and continuity of membership would make PAC recommendations count, so that accountability lasts "until the last rupee is accounted for."