Supplementary demands for grants

Supplementary demands for grants

Subject: Polity

Context: In the Supplementary demands for grants for current fiscal, the single largest outgo proposed is ₹10,727.50 crore, which will be spent on meeting expenditure towards Grants-in-aid General under the National Rural Health Mission – India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package Phase-II.

Concept:

Supplementary demands for grants

• Article 115 of the constitution provides for Supplementary, additional or excess grants.
• They are additional grants which are required to meet the expenditure of the government
• The Comptroller and Auditor General of India bring such excesses to the notice of the Parliament.
• Supplementary demands for grants is presented in each of the three sessions of Parliament Monsoon, Winter and Budget — when the amount authorised for the current financial year is in sufficient,
• The Public Accounts Committee examines these excesses and gives recommendations to the Parliament.

The need

• The need arises for additional expenditure on an existing service or a new service not contemplated in the annual financial statement for that year, and for recouping the Contingency Fund Advance.
• When actual expenditure incurred exceeds the approved grants of the Parliament, the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Railways presents a Demand for Excess Grant.
• It is needed for government expenditure over and above the amount for which Parliamentary approval was already obtained during the Budget session.
• When grants, authorised by the Parliament, fall short of the required expenditure, an estimate is presented before the Parliament for Supplementary or Additional grants.
• These grants are presented and passed by the Parliament before the end of the financial year.