New Delhi, April 29: Parliament's public accounts committee has made out a case for revisiting the Comptroller and Auditor General Act, 1971, to make the auditor accountable to the House.

Also, the PAC has borrowed a leaf out of the 2002 report of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution to suggest that the CAG's appointment be kept outside the "exclusive purview" of the executive.

These are among a slew of recommendations that the PAC submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker yesterday after holding consultations with the CAG and PACs of legislatures as part of an effort to enhance public financial accountability across the country.

In pushing for parliamentary oversight over the CAG and top appointments in the auditor's office, the PAC has flagged prevailing practices in other democracies including the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Other countries where Parliament's approval is required to appoint auditors general include Germany, Japan, Korea and Thailand.

Another recommendation pertains to the mandate of the CAG. The PAC is of the view that it should extend to any enterprise or programme where government funding is involved, including government-operated agencies like district rural development agencies where NGOs are roped in and public-private partnership (PPP) projects.

"This has been a contentious issue since the PPP policy came into force, be it in roads or the KG Basin. The private sector has resisted presenting their balance sheets to the CAG in such projects, arguing that it is they who bring the investment in and they should be treated on such matters differently from the public sector," the PAC chairman, K.V. Thomas, had told this newspaper recently.

At present, the CAG audits PPP projects but primarily the public sector component.

Briefing mediapersons today, PAC convener Nishikant Dubey stressed the need for governments - both at the Centre and in the states - to take PAC reports seriously.

Although the backlog of unexplained audit paragraphs has been reduced considerably in recent years, Dubey said: "If governments do not take our reports seriously, it only adds to the perception that legislators do no work."