Critical Assessment of PAC & JPC

 

The constitution of the two committees involves the selection of members amongst the members of parliament in proportion to their representation in parliament. The two committees have been given the power to adjudicate over many substantial matters of public importance which includes the disposal of matter of 2G scam by PAC and Ketan Parekh’s scam, Bofors scam, VVIP chopper gate scam, soft drinks pesticides matter by jpc. Unsurprisingly, barring soft drinks pesticides matter and VVIP chopper gate scam there had been no effective adjudication over all the scams. The reason for the ineffective disposal lies in the very fact that how one can pass a decision against himself. Interestingly, if a judge is found to have an interest in the subject matter then he is barred to adjudicate over the matter because of the principle of natural justice which says that no one can be a judge in a his own case. It is because the bias in such cases can be presumed. But unfortunately, this principle does not apply in the case of adjudication by these committees. It is very pertinent to note here that the proceedings of these two committees are quasi-judicial and the principle of natural justice is very much applicable in these cases as well. One more thing is required to be remembered here that the composition of these committees also include the representation of allies which are lending their support to the ruling party. It is hard to believe that they would give their decision against the ruling party. So far as the contention is concerned that the head of PAC is the leader of opposition it is to seen here that the decision of these committees are decided by the plurality of votes though he has been given the power of casting vote but it will remain a futile exercise unless there is an equality of votes which is a fact far from imagination. So a very radical change is required in the formation of these two committees. As these committees decide the matters of public importance its power must be handed over to the committee headed over by the members of judiciary along with the persons of high integrity to be selected by a panel comprised of Supreme Court judges.