PAC raps Odisha chief secretary for skipping meeting

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Jan 17, 2015 at 11:22 AM Updated On : Jan 17, 2015 at 11:55 AM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 17:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Odisha Legislative Assembly on Friday expressed its discontent over the chief secretary not attending the meeting.

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The PAC, headed by its chairman and Opposition leader Narasingh Mishra, expressed displeasure over Chief Secretary G C Pati’s nonappearance as the latter did not intimate the committee about his inability to be present in the meeting in writing as is the norm. Instead, he had sent his Officer on Special Duty (OSD) as messenger to convey his message.

As per standard practice, if the chief secretary is not able to make it to the meeting due to some unavoidable circumstances, then he is supposed to intimate the PAC chairman and Opposition leader about this in writing. Both Opposition and ruling members were peeved over the fact that he chose to communicate this through his messenger instead of a written communiqué.

The members of the committee cautioned the chief secretary not to repeat this in future, sources said.

The PAC meeting was convened to discuss the action taken on Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on various departments from 1997-98 to 2012-13 FY as the government had not apprised the committee of the steps taken on it.

As pre rule, the PAC reviews the action taken on CAG report within three months of its tabling in the state Assembly.

PAC members Ananta Das, Naba Kishore Das, Chiranjibi Biswal, Sameer Das, Pramila Mallik, Saroj Samal and Rabi Narayan Mohapatra were present in the meeting.