PAC Full Form
Public Accounts Committee
What does PAC stand for? A government term, explained.
PAC Full Form in English, letter by letter
PAC is the Public Accounts Committee, the Indian parliamentary committee that examines audit reports on how public money was spent.
PAC Full Form in Indian Languages
Every rupee the Union government spends has to answer to Parliament, and the PAC is where the accounts are checked. Here is the name in six Indian languages.
What the Public Accounts Committee examines
PAC stands for Public Accounts Committee, a parliamentary body that studies the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. The CAG audits but does not punish. Its reports on revenue, expenditure and public sector accounts go to the President, who places them before Parliament, and the PAC then goes through them in detail.
The committee looks for money spent without Parliament's sanction, recoveries that are overdue, losses caused by negligence, and waste that could have been avoided. It reports to the House with findings and suggestions. Those suggestions are advisory: no minister loses office because the PAC disapproves. But governments answer them, and the action taken reports are placed before Parliament.
One rule shapes the work: the PAC does not discuss the merits of a policy. Whether a highway was a good idea is for other forums. The question here is whether the money Parliament sanctioned was spent as intended, within the rules.
Who sits on it, and for how long
Size and term
The committee has up to 22 members: 15 elected by the Lok Sabha and up to 7 by the Rajya Sabha. Members are elected every year by proportional representation using the single transferable vote, and can be re-elected.
The chair usually goes to the Opposition
The Speaker appoints the chair from among the Lok Sabha members. Since 1967, when Minoo Masani of the Swatantra Party took the post, the chair has by convention been a senior Opposition member. A minister, which includes the Prime Minister, cannot be a member, and a member who becomes a minister ceases to be one.
Where the committee comes from
India has had a Public Accounts Committee since 1921, when the Government of India Act of 1919 began to give the legislature a role in financial control. Most state assemblies run their own committees for state expenditure.
PAC, CAG and the Estimates Committee
CAG does the audit
The Comptroller and Auditor General is a constitutional office under Article 148, appointed by the President and removable only in the way a Supreme Court judge is. It audits Union and state accounts and files performance audits of schemes, departments and public sector firms.
The PAC does the questioning
The committee takes those reports, calls the secretaries and officials of the department concerned, and writes its own report for Parliament. The reports are public documents on the Lok Sabha website.
Estimates looks forward instead
The Estimates Committee examines the budget estimates and suggests economies, with up to 30 members drawn only from the Lok Sabha. The PAC looks back at what was spent. The Estimates Committee looks at what is proposed.
A worked example of how a CAG report becomes a PAC report
Suppose the CAG finds that a ministry paid contractors for work that was not completed on time. The finding is tabled in Parliament as a paragraph in an audit report and referred to the PAC. The committee asks the ministry for a written note, then calls its secretary to explain at a hearing, where members question officials one by one.
The PAC then adopts a report with its recommendations, for example recovery of the amount or action against the officials responsible. The ministry has to send an action taken note, and the committee can follow up with a further report if the response is weak. The process is slow, which is one reason the PAC often reports on audit paragraphs that are years old.
Journalists read PAC reports closely because they put the CAG's technical findings in plain language and record what officials said under questioning.
Other PACs in Indian news
Away from Parliament, PAC turns up in other settings. In Uttar Pradesh it means Provincial Armed Constabulary, the armed police battalions used for riot control and election duty. In American political reporting it means Political Action Committee, an organisation that raises money for elections.
A report on Lucknow PAC jawans and a story on a super PAC in Washington have nothing to do with Parliament's accounts committee. The sentence around the acronym decides which one is meant. Aspirants often confuse it with the PSC, the Public Service Commission, which recruits civil servants.
The Public Accounts Committee is Parliament reading the auditor's findings and asking officials to explain. It is not a court and it does not judge policy, but its reports are public and are among the quickest ways to see where public money slipped.
PAC Full Form: Common Questions
What is the full form of PAC?
The full form of PAC is Public Accounts Committee. It is the parliamentary committee that examines the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General and reports to Parliament on how public money was spent.
How many members does the Public Accounts Committee have?
Up to 22 members, 15 from the Lok Sabha and up to 7 from the Rajya Sabha, elected for one year. By convention an Opposition member chairs it, and ministers cannot serve.
What is the difference between the CAG and the PAC?
The CAG is the auditor: a constitutional authority that inspects accounts and prepares reports. The PAC is the parliamentary panel that reads those reports, questions department officials and reports to Parliament. One audits, the other examines.
Can the PAC take action against a minister?
No. Its recommendations are advisory and it cannot punish anyone, nor can it examine the merits of a policy. Its strength is scrutiny: reports are tabled in Parliament, discussed publicly and answered by the government.
Who chairs the Public Accounts Committee?
A member of the Lok Sabha chosen by the Speaker, and by convention from the Opposition since 1967. The chair changes with the annual reconstitution of the committee, so check the Parliament website for the current name.
What does PAC mean in the context of UP Police?
In Uttar Pradesh, PAC stands for Provincial Armed Constabulary, the state's armed police battalions. It is unrelated to the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee.