Patna, Dec, 13: Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav today said the post of chairman of the public accounts committee (PAC) be given to the BJP.

Buttressing his point, he said the position has been traditionally held by the member of the principal opposition party in the state.

Leading a delegation of party leaders who met Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary today, Nand Kishore submitted a memorandum to Choudhary, requesting him to give the PAC chairman's post to the principal opposition party.

The delegation comprised BJP leaders Prem Kumar, Vinod Narayan Jha, Arun Kumar Sinha, Usha Vidyarthi, Vijay Singh Yadav and others. Citing precedents, Nand Kishore said: 'It has been acceptable parliamentary tradition to give the PAC chairman's post to the principal opposition party in the state and in the country. The post is currently held by an MLA of the RJD, which is now supporting the JDU government in the state. However, the BJP, after snapping its ties with the Dal on June 19, 2013, is in the opposition and hence its demand for the post is genuine.'

The PAC examines the audit report of comptroller and auditor general (CAG) after it is laid in the Assembly, he said, adding that the party has written letters twice to the Assembly Speaker in this regard.

Yadav, who was accompanied by media in-charge Ashok Bhatt and Rakesh Kumar Singh, questioned the state government's decision to abolish the two posts of information commissioners at a time when the numbers of pending cases have gone up significantly. According to the RTI rules of 2007, there were five posts of information commissioners, including one post of the chief information commissioner.

'The two posts of information commissioners were abolished in early 2014. This led to a phenomenal increase in the numbers of pending cases that sought information on various subjects and issues,' Nand Kishore said.

In order to drive home his point, Nand Kishore said the number of pending cases was 9,100 on March 31, 2013, but the figure rose to 21,483 by the end of March 31, 2014 and the number further rose to 29,875 as on September 30, 2014.

'The government is resorting to such moves to hide its non-performance and corruption. The government is scared of being exposed if it shares information with the common people,' Nand Kishore said, while emphasising to fill up one vacant post out of three of information commissioners.