Congress Leader Asks Speaker to Take Action Against Six State Chief Secretaries

Congress leader and Public Accounts Committee chairperson K.C. Venugopal has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to seek action against the Chief Secretaries of six States for skipping a panel hearing.

The Missing Officials

Mr. Venugopal sent the letter on October 22 after the Chief Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Odisha, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh failed to appear before the panel despite being summoned. The committee had sent communications on October 8 and 9 to call the officials for a meeting about irregularities in scholarship schemes for students belonging to Scheduled Castes. The panel had previously found delays in putting States on the national scholarship portal, gaps in coordination between the Centre and States, and problems in giving out funds during a study visit to Jaipur in September.

Hearing Details

None of the six Chief Secretaries turned up at the meeting, and the panel did not grant them any exemptions. While the Madhya Pradesh Education Secretary arrived as planned and will be called again, the Secretaries of the Social Welfare Departments of Karnataka and Punjab and the Education Secretary of Bihar did attend and gave evidence alongside representatives from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Mr. Venugopal also asked the Speaker to take action against the Social Welfare Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Odisha.

Context

The Public Accounts Committee is an important parliamentary panel that checks how the government spends money and looks into reports given by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Parliamentary panels have the power to summon top civil servants and officials to examine government work and financial records. When invited officials fail to show up without valid reasons, it is treated seriously as a violation of parliamentary rules and privilege.