Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
The Orissa Assembly should not elect Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik to the Committee on Public Accounts (PAC), as, thereby, he may influence the same while dealing with audit paras on misuse of the state exchequer during his tenure as the chief Minister for a very long period, till people refused him fresh mandate in election 2024. His tenure as chief minister is discernibly soiled with massive wrongful and unauthorised expenditure, which cannot escape the scanner of the C&AG.
There was discernible anarchy in public accounts. The appropriation granted by the Assembly was violated to the core that warrants strict scrutiny and severe action. And, the PAC has a major role in this.
The PAC is the instrument “for examination of accounts showing the appropriation of sums granted by the Assembly for the expenditure of the Government of Orissa, the annual finance accounts of the State Government and such other accounts laid before the Assembly as the Committee may think fit.” Naveen’s tenure had indulged in unlimited misappropriation.
To elect him to the PAC would be anathema to transparency in the conduct of the PAC. It would be better for him not to seek election into this Committee, because it is unethical for a suspected culprit to sit in a chair to decide if he has committed the crime. If Naveen would be eager to get elected to this Committee, the Assembly should refuse him to have the position. And, this would be the best decision of the Assembly in democratic interest.