They packed the PAC

Public account committee is one of the most important standing committees of the parliament, standing means it has a kind of permanency and it remains in existence no matter which government come, of course the composition may change. Conventionally it is widely respected and enjoy support cutting across the party line and intelligentsia class, the reason is simple it include members from all the parties from both the houses and headed by leader of opposition. Additionally, in preparation of its report it call upon experts, executive and in some cases even CAG. The report thus prepared critically help in guiding the legislative response on otherwise tricky issues.

The high voltage drama that unfolded in the wake of 2G spectrum case did not even spare this institution from its loop. The politics begun right from the time the committee took over the case, first on whether P.M. should be called for question or not then on what should be the mandate of it. but it reached to its zenith right before the presentation of report to the speaker. The day before, there was intense political exchanges and the parties whose member were there in the PAC started lobbying to go in favor or against the committee’s report, the members of DMK,SP, CONGRESS rejected the committee’s report but any ways the report was presented to the speaker. What will be the decision of speaker is yet to be seen but it has raised many disturbing trends and the questions which answers shall, in large way decide the future of Indian institutions.

The lobbying at the final stage itself was very disturbing; it negates the spirit of this institution. the point is, if the members had any problem they should have raised their concerns at the very beginning when committee took over the case, backtracking at this stage suggests the mala fide intentions of members. probably they might have found out certain incriminating findings that might be against the interest of the parties they belong.

The committees are believed to be detached from the party’s loyalties and rightly so because if the institutions start getting infected by political interests then corruption will know no boundaries. In this particular case, honesty of an institution was put at stake for narrow political gains.

It is also possible, since the leader of opposition head the committee, there is no better way to embarrass the govt then bringing a very hard finding, if this is even remotely so then the spirit of the institution is being killed because this is the last place to set the personal or political score.

It is not the question of whether findings were right or wrong neither it is about any person in particular, it is about the trend in motion and their larger impact.

Institutionalists like Douglas North and Doni Rodrick have hailed the importance of institutions as the basic foundational pillar for development of countries; if these pillars are shaken then a larger cause of nation building would be jeopardized.