Financial Administration: Budget, Parliamentary Control, Audit and Public Accountability
What the domain tests
This domain tests the budget cycle, parliamentary financial control, audit, and accountability institutions. Expect questions on Articles 112–116, the CAG and the public accounts committees.
Core rules and concepts
- Article 112: the annual financial statement, commonly called the budget, showing estimated receipts and expenditure.
- Article 110: Money Bill definition; Article 114: Appropriation Bill; Article 115: supplementary, additional or excess grants; Article 116: vote on account.
- Article 265: no tax without authority of law. Article 266: Consolidated Fund and Public Account; Article 267: Contingency Fund.
- Parliamentary control works through demands for grants, cut motions, the Departmentally Related Standing Committees, the PAC (22 members: 15 Lok Sabha, 7 Rajya Sabha) and the Estimates Committee (30 Lok Sabha members).
- Article 148 establishes the CAG; Articles 149–151 cover duties, audit and reporting. CAG audits, but Parliament and its committees decide accountability consequences.
Worked example
A ministry spends Rs 50 crore without a valid appropriation. The CAG flags an audit paragraph. The PAC examines it, summons the secretary, and recommends corrective action. The reasoning: expenditure without parliamentary sanction violates Articles 114 and 266; the CAG's report is an audit finding, not a judicial verdict. Parliamentary control is ex post here, but it can also be ex ante through demands for grants.
Traps that cost marks
The Consolidated Fund is not the Public Account; provident funds and small savings sit in the Public Account. Charged expenditure is not voted. CAG does not pass the budget or punish officials. A vote on account is not a full budget. Do not confuse the Finance Bill with the Appropriation Bill.