Congress leader demands action against chief secretaries of six states for skipping PAC hearing

Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal. File | Photo credit: ANI

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman and Congress leader KC Venugopal wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking action against the chief secretaries of six states for not appearing before the panel despite being summoned.

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In a letter to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha dated October 22, Mr. Venugopal flagged the absence of chief secretaries from Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Odisha, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh at a hearing on irregularities in scholarship schemes for scheduled caste students.

The Congress leader noted that the panel that examined pre-matric and post-matric scholarship schemes for students belonging to Scheduled Castes found delays in admissions to states on the national scholarship portal, gaps in coordination between the Center and states and problems in disbursement of funds during a study visit to Jaipur in September. A communication went out to the six states on October 8 and 9, asking the chief secretaries and officials of the respective departments to appear before the PAC regarding the irregularities, Mr. Venugopal said in the letter.

However, none of the six chief secretaries turned up for the meeting, although exemptions were not granted, he noted. The Social Welfare Secretaries of Karnataka and Punjab and the Education Minister of Bihar appeared and gave evidence along with representatives of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The Madhya Pradesh Education Minister arrived as scheduled and the committee decided to call the state again. Mr. Venugopal also asked the Speaker to take action against the welfare secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha.

All the PAC members took cognizance of the matter and the committee decided that the absence amounted to a breach of privilege, Mr. Venugopal said in the letter and asked the chairman to take appropriate action against the breach.

Published – 24 Oct 2026 22:19 IST