The BJP may find it hard to reconcile to the continuation of Jaswant Singh as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, but the panel has begun its work in earnest.

The PAC had divided itself into different sub-committees, which are required to prepare questionnaires for examining officials after identifying relevant paragraphs of CAG reports, at its first meeting on September 7.

Most sub-committees are likely to meet next month and be ready with their first draft reports in December. Thereafter, these draft reports will be placed before the PAC.

Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai, who had made a presentation at the first meeting, will assist the committee and all its off-shoots.

Jaswant Singh has chosen to head the first sub-committee, which would go into three subjects: “Undue favour to vendor in acquisition of submarines (Scorpene), implementation of the NREGA, and the National Programme for Nutritional Support to Primary Education (mid-day meals scheme)”.

BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab is the convenor of the panel mandated to examine the special economic zones (SEZs). Rewati Raman Singh of the SP has been given charge of the panel which will go into the issue of “freight and wagon management on Indian Railways”. Former law minister and AIADMK leader M Thambidurai heads the sub-committee which will examine “assistance to states for developing export infrastructure and allied activities (ASIDE) scheme”. The sub-committee on “non-compliance by ministries/departments in timely submission of replies to the audits and paragraphs of the Comptroller and Auditor-General” has former Union minister of state Ashwani Kumar as it chairman. The sub-committee on “public-private partnership and procurement of medicines and medical equipment” has been set up with N K Singh as the convenor. Tripura MP Khagen Das heads the seventh sub-committee which is yet to be assigned a subject.