Chairman of Pakistan's Senate has been invited for centennial celebration

• As the Public Accounts Committee celebrated the 100th year of its journey, it honoured the guest of Parliament of India's Lok Sabha Speaker and Pakistan's Senate on this occassion.
• The PAC is the oldest parliamentary committee in the Indian legislative affairs and has been crucial in upholding the principle of accountability as it exercises oversight of public expenditure, a key function of the democratic system.

About PAC:

• The PAC is formed every year with a strength of not more than 22 members of which 15 are from Lok Sabha and 7 from Rajya Sabha.
• The term of office of the members is one year.
• The Chairman is appointed by the Speaker of Lok Sabha. Since 1967, the chairman of the committee is selected from the opposition.
• Its chief function is to examine the audit report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) after it is laid in the Parliament.

Limitations of the Public Accounts Committee:

• Broadly, it cannot intervene in the questions of policy.
• It can keep a tab on the expenses only after they are incurred. It has no power to limit expenses.
• It cannot intervene in matters of day-to-day administration.
• Any recommendation that the committee makes is only advisory. They can be ignored by the ministries.
• It is not vested with the power of disallowance of expenditures by the departments.
• Being only an executive body; it cannot issue an order. Only the Parliament can take a final decision on its findings.