Congress leader seeks action against Chief Secretaries of six States for skipping PAC hearing

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson and senior Congress leader, K.C. Venugopal, has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking action against the Chief Secretaries of six States for not appearing before the panel despite being summoned.

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In a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker dated October 22, Mr. Venugopal flagged the absence of the Chief Secretaries from Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Odisha, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh at a hearing on irregularities in scholarship schemes for students belonging to Scheduled Castes.

The Congress leader noted that the panel, which was examining pre-matric and post-matric scholarship programmes for students belonging to Scheduled Castes, had found delays in onboarding States on the national scholarship portal, gaps in coordination between the Centre and States, and problems in disbursement of funds during a study visit to Jaipur in September. Communications went to the six States on October 8 and 9, asking Chief Secretaries and officials of the departments concerned to appear before the PAC in connection with the irregularities, Mr. Venugopal said in the letter.

However, none of the six Chief Secretaries turned up at the meeting, though exemptions were not granted, he noted. Secretaries of the Social Welfare Departments of Karnataka and Punjab and the Education Secretary of Bihar appeared and gave evidence along with representatives of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The Madhya Pradesh Education Secretary arrived as scheduled, and the Committee decided to call the State again. Mr. Venugopal also asked the Speaker to act against the Social Welfare Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Odisha.

All members of the PAC took note of the matter and the committee held that the absence amounts to breach of privilege, Mr. Venugopal said in the letter, urging the Speaker to take appropriate actions for the violation.