News:Recently,the Finance Minister has tabled the first batch of Supplementary Grants for the financial year 2019-20 in both the Houses of Parliament.
Facts:
What are Supplementary Grants:
- Supplementary grants are additional grant required to meet the required expenditure of the government
- Supplementary, additional or excess grants are mentioned under Article 115 of the Constitution.
When are Supplementary grants needed?
- When grants authorised by the Parliament has fallen short of the required expenditure, an estimate is presented before the Parliament for Supplementary or Additional grants.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General of India bring such excesses to the notice of the Parliament.
- The Public Accounts Committee examines these excesses and gives recommendations to the Parliament.
- These grants are then presented and passed by the Parliament before the end of the financial year.
Additional information:
About Additional Grant:
- It is granted when a need has arisen during the current financial year for additional expenditure upon some new service not contemplated in the budget for that year.
About Excess Grant:
- It is granted when money has been spent on any service during a financial year in excess of the amount granted for that service in the budget for that year.It is voted by Lok Sabha after the financial year.
- Before the demands for excess grants are submitted to the Lok Sabha for voting,they must be approved by the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.
Vote of credit:
- It is granted for meeting an unexpected demand upon resources of India when on account of the magnitude or the indefinite character of the service,the demand cannot be stated with the details ordinary given in a budget.
- Hence,it is like a blank cheque given to the Executive by the Lok Sabha.
Exceptional Grants:
- It is granted for a special purpose and forms no part of the current service of any financial year,
Token Grant:
- It is granted when funds to meet the proposed expenditure on a new service can be made available by reappropriation.
- Reappropriation involves transfer of funds from one head to another.It does not involve any additional expenditure.
About Public account committee:
- The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was set up first in 1921 under the provisions of the Government of India Act,1919.
- It is a committee of selected members of Parliament constituted by the Parliament of India.
- The PAC is formed every year with a strength of not more than 22 members of which 15 are from Lok Sabha and 7 from Rajya Sabha.The term of office of the members is one year.
- The Chairman is appointed by the Speaker of Lok Sabha.Since 1967, the chairman of the committee is selected from the opposition.
- The committee examines the audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) after it is laid in the Parliament.
