Question

brifely evaluate the functioning of legislative financial committee

Answer 1

Parliament enjoys the supreme authority in financial matters. Executive cannot spend any money without parliament’s approval. No tax can be imposed without the authority of law. The government places the budget before the parliament for approval. The passage of the budget means that the parliament has legalised the receipts and expenditure of the government. The public accounts committee and the Estimates committee keep a watch on the spending of the government. These committees scrutinize the account and bring out the cases of irregular, unauthorised or improper usage in public expenditure. In this way, parliament exerts budgetary as well as post-budgetary control on the government. If the government fails to spend the granted money in a financial year, the remaining balance is sent back to the Consolidated Fund of India. This is known as ‘rule of lapse’. This also leads to increase in expenditure by the end of the financial year.