Article 115 of Constitution of India deals with Supplementary, additional or excess grants

Original Text of Article 115 of Constitution of India

(1) The President shall—

• if the amount authorised by any law made in accordance with the provisions of Article 114 to be expended for a particular service for the current financial year is found to be insufficient for the purposes of that year or when a need has arisen during the current financial year for supplementary or additional expenditure upon some new service not contemplated in the annual financial statement for that year, or
• if any money has been spent on any service during a financial year in excess of the amount granted for that service and for that year,

cause to be laid before both the Houses of Parliament another statement showing the estimated amount of that expenditure or cause to be presented to the House of the People demand for such excess, as the case may be.

(2) The provisions of articles 112, 113 and 114 shall have effect in relation to any such statement and expenditure or demand and also to any law to be made authorising the appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of India to meet such expenditure or the grant in respect of such demand as they have effect in relation to the annual financial statement and the expenditure mentioned therein or to a demand for a grant and the law to be made for the authorisation of appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of India to meet such expenditure or grant.

Article 115 of Constitution of India Explanation:

In order to understand Supplementary, additional and excess grants, we must first understand what the demand for the grant is.

In order to perform any expenditure (apart from the charged expenditure), the government has to first “demand for” the grant of money from the Consolidated Fund of India. The Parliament approves this demand; only then can the government spend money from the consolidated fund. This is done in three steps during each Budget:

Step 1: The Government puts a Demand for Grant

Step 2: These demands are introduced in the Parliament as Appropriation bills

Step 3: If passed by the Lok Sabha, these “Appropriation Acts” enable the government to appropriate the said amount out of the consolidated fund.

Now, suppose the government needs to introduce a new expenditure in the middle of a financial year that it forgot to put in the Budget during the start of the financial year. It would be impractical to present a full budget again to consider just a few demands for grants.

For such a situation, the constitution allows the Parliament to provide the following grants types of grants:

1. Supplementary Grant
2. Additional Grant
3. Excess Grant
4. Token Grant
5. Exceptional Grants
6. Vote of credit
7. Vote on Account

Grants mentioned in Article 115:

1. Supplementary Grant: When the government needs excess grants over and above the amount granted in the appropriation act for a service (say a scheme), a supplementary estimate is laid before the Parliament.
2. Additional Grant: If the government has introduced a new service in the Budget, but did not provide enough funds for it in the appropriation act, then additional demand can be granted through an additional grant. For example, suppose a new scheme is proposed in the Budget in a hurry by the government, and there isn’t enough time to calculate the exact expenditure. Then, the scheme is introduced with a lump sum of a small amount in the Budget, and additional sums are granted for it later on.
3. Excess Grant: If any money is spent on a certain service in excess of the amount granted for that service in a financial year, the Finance Minister presents a demand for the excess grant (post-facto approval). However, before presenting the demand for an excess grant before Lok Sabha, it must be approved by the Public Accounts Committee.

In order to appropriate money using the Supplementary, additional or excess grants, the procedure to be followed shall be the same as in the case of the annual financial statement (i.e. the Budget). This is because no money can be appropriated out of India’s consolidated fund without Parliamentary authorisation via a law.

Note: No amendment has ever been made in this article.

Questions related to Article 115 of Constitution of India

For Further Reference:

• Read The Constitution of India

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