New Delhi, 03 November (H.S.): Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday said that every rupee of public money must be properly accounted for and utilised strictly for the purposes for which it is allocated.

Om Birla made the remarks while inaugurating a two-day conference of Presiding Officers of the Public Accounts Committees (PACs) of Parliament and the legislatures of States and Union Territories in Thiruvananthapuram. He emphasised the importance of monitoring public expenditure, strengthening parliamentary accountability and harnessing modern technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), for financial scrutiny.

The conference is being held on the theme, Audit, Accountability and Good Governance: The Evolving Role of PACs.

The Lok Sabha Speaker said, Political differences must be set aside when it comes to safeguarding public money. The democratic convention of appointing a member of the Opposition as the Chairperson of the PAC reflects the maturity of India's parliamentary democracy. The committee's objective is not to criticise any government but to ensure that public funds are neither misused nor lost through leakages, and that the executive remains accountable to the people.

He further emphasised that the assessment of government expenditure should not be confined merely to figures and utilisation certificates. Members of the committees should also visit project sites to assess the quality of infrastructure projects and examine the actual impact of social welfare schemes, he said.

Highlighting the need to modernise oversight mechanisms in changing times, Birla said that AI, data analytics and other advanced technologies should be leveraged to analyse large volumes of expenditure data, identify financial irregularities and strengthen audit monitoring.

Chairperson of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee K.C. Venugopal stressed the need to make parliamentary scrutiny more outcome-oriented. He proposed that at least one PAC report, along with the government's action taken on it, should be mandatorily discussed during every session of Parliament.

Venugopal also called for time-bound audits of major infrastructure projects and flagship welfare programmes.

A commemorative publication marking the PAC conference was also released on the occasion.

Among those present were Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, Kerala Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan, Kerala Assembly Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and K.N. Balagopal, Chairperson of the Kerala Legislative Assembly's Public Accounts Committee, along with several other dignitaries.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar