3 Types Of Financial Committees

There are three types of Financial Committees:

 

It is made up of 22 people (15 from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha). Every year, the members are elected by the Parliament from among its members using the single transferable vote in accordance with the principle of proportional representation. As a result, all parties are fairly represented. The members have a one-year term of office. As a member of the committee, a minister cannot be elected. The Speaker appoints the chairman of the committee from among its members. The chairman of the committee was a member of the ruling party until 1966–67. Since 1967, however, a tradition has developed in which the chairman of the committee is invariably chosen from the opposition.

 

The committee's job is to look over the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) annual audit reports, which are presented to Parliament by the President. The CAG presents the President with three audit reports: an audit report on appropriation accounts, an audit report on finance accounts, and an audit report on public undertakings. The committee investigates public spending not only from a legal and formal standpoint to uncover technical irregularities, but also from the standpoints of economy, prudence, wisdom, and propriety to uncover instances of waste, loss, corruption, extravagance, inefficiency, and nugatory expenditures.

 

The committee's responsibilities are as follows:

1. To examine the Union government's appropriation and finance accounts, as well as any other accounts laid before the Lok Sabha. The appropriation accounts compare actual expenditure to that sanctioned by Parliament through the Appropriation Act, whereas the finance accounts show the Union Government's annual receipts and disbursements.

 

2. The committee must satisfy itself when scrutinising the appropriation accounts and the CAG's audit report on them.

 

• The money that was disbursed was legally available for the service or purpose that was used.

 

• The expenditure complies with the governing authority.

 

• All re-appropriations have been carried out in accordance with the applicable rules.

 

3. Examine the financial statements of state corporations, trading companies, and manufacturing projects, as well as the CAG's audit report on them (except those public undertakings which are allotted to the Committee onPublic Undertakings)

 

4. To investigate the accounts of autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies whose accounts are audited by the CAG.

 

5. To consider the CAG's report on the audit of any receipt or to examine the store and stock accounts.

 

6. To look into any money spent on a service in excess of the amount allocated by the Lok Sabha for that purpose during a fiscal year.

 

The CAG assists the committee in carrying out the aforementioned duties. In fact, the CAG serves as the committee's guide, friend, and philosopher. However, the committee's effectiveness is limited by the following factors:

 

• It is uninterested in policy issues in the broadest sense.

 

• It examines accounts after they have been closed (showing the expenditure already incurred).

 

• It is unable to intervene in day-to-day administrative matters.

• Its recommendations are merely suggestions and do not bind the ministries.

 

• It does not have the authority to disallow expenditures by departments.

 

• Because it is not an executive body, it is unable to issue orders. Only Parliament has the authority to make a final decision on the findings.

 

It had 25 members at first, but that number was increased to 30 in 1956. The Lok Sabha is represented by all thirty members. This committee has no members from the Rajya Sabha. Every year, the Lok Sabha elects these members from among its own members, using the principles of proportional representation and a single transferable vote. As a result, all parties are fairly represented. The office has a one-year term. As a member of the committee, a minister cannot be elected. The Speaker appoints the committee's chairman from among its members, and he is invariably from the ruling party. The committee's job is to look over the budget estimates and make recommendations for "savings" in government spending. As a result, it's been dubbed a "continuous economy committee."

 

The committee's responsibilities are as follows:

To report on how economies, organisational improvements, efficiency, and administrative reform, all of which are consistent with the policy that underpins the estimates, can be impacted.

To propose alternative policies in order to improve administrative efficiency and economy.

 

To see if the money is well-spent within the parameters of the policy implied by the estimates.

 

To propose the date on which the estimates will be presented to Parliament for the fourth time.

 

The Committee will not carry out its duties in relation to public undertakings that have been assigned to the Committee on Public Undertakings. The Committee may continue to examine the estimates at any time during the fiscal year and report to the House as the investigation progresses. The Committee will not be required to review all of the estimates for any given year. Despite the fact that the Committee has not issued a report, the grant requests may be voted on in the end. However, the committee's effectiveness is limited by the following factors:

 

• It only looks at budget estimates after they've been voted on by Parliament, not before.

 

• It is not permitted to question the Parliament's policy.

 

• Its recommendations are merely suggestions and do not bind the ministries.

 

• It examines only a few select ministries and departments each year.

 

• As a result, it would cover all of them over a period of years through rotation.

 

• It does not have access to the CAG's expert assistance, which the Public Accounts Committee does.

 

• Its work resembles that of a post-mortem.

 

It had 15 members at first (10 from the Lok Sabha and 5 from the Rajya Sabha). However, in 1974, the number of members was increased to 22. (15 from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha). Every year, the members of this committee are elected by the Parliament from among its own members using the proportional representation principle and a single transferable vote. As a result, all parties are fairly represented. The members have a one-year term of office. A minister is ineligible to serve on the committee. The Speaker appoints the committee's chairman from among its members, who must all be Lok Sabha members. As a result, the chairmanship of the committee cannot be given to a member of the Rajya Sabha.

 

The committee's responsibilities include: 

•    Examining reports and accounts of public undertakings

 

•    Examine the Comptroller and Auditor General's reports on public undertakings

 

•    Examine whether the affairs of public undertakings are managed in accordance with sound business principles and prudent commercial practises (in the context of autonomy and efficiency of public undertakings).

 

•    To carry out any other functions vested in the public accounts and estimates committees in relation to public undertakings that the Speaker may assign to it from time to time.

 

None of the following will be examined or investigated by the committee:

(i) Major government policy issues, as opposed to business or commercial functions of public enterprises.

 

(ii) Day-to-day administrative issues

 

(iii) Matters for which machinery has been established by any special statute under which a specific public undertaking has been established. Furthermore, the committee's effectiveness is limited by the following:

 

• In a given year, it cannot examine more than ten to twelve public undertakings.

 

• Its work resembles that of a post-mortem.

 

• It does not investigate technical issues because none of its members are technical experts.

 

• Its recommendations are merely suggestions and do not bind the ministries.