Congress leader KV Thomas renominated PAC chairman

NEW DELHI: Outgoing chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, senior Congress leader K V Thomas, has been renominated to the post for a second term.

"K V Thomas has been renominated as PAC chairman till April, 2016," a senior government official said.

PAC is one of the most important finance committees along with the Committee on Estimates and the Committee on Public Undertakings.

Since 1967, the post of the PAC Chairman has been held by a senior member of the main Opposition party.

The key committee examines CAG reports after they are tabled in Parliament.

The PAC, constituted every year, may consist of not more than 22 members -- 15 from Lok Sabha and not more than seven members from Rajya Sabha.

Members from Lok Sabha have to be elected to the panel while the representatives from Rajya Sabha are nominated. A minister cannot be a member.

The PAC's controversial 2011 draft report on the 2G scam, which had strongly indicted former Telecom Minister A Raja and come down heavily on the PMO and the Cabinet Secretariat for not taking "corrective action", continued to be on its "unfinished agenda" for three years.

Interestingly, the chair of the Committee on Estimates has always been held by a member of the ruling party and is currently occupied by BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi.

Joshi was the Chairman of the PAC in the last Lok Sabha.