CHARGED EXPENDITURE

Since independence, all sorts of political, social, legal or financial decisions of India are taken by various government bodies while keeping the “Constitution of India” in mind. Financial stability is a vital component of a country that allows the government to estimate annual expenditures and receipts of each financial year. “Charged expenditure” has been a popular topic while the presentation of the Indian annual budget.

Concepts of charged expenditure

In the context of the “Indian parliament” and the “constitution of India”, “charged expenditures” can be considered as the charges, spending or expenditures that are set without any voting. The “Consolidated Fund of India” decides such types of expenditures or spending while presenting the annual budget or “financial statement” of a particular year. The  “president of India” needs to be informed by the parliamentary boards about the financial budget as well as expenditures before it gets published publicly. 

“Charged expenditures” within the Indian context is completely independent of the parliament bodies as the primary purpose of such funds or spending is to protect and provide required services to all the constitutional bodies across India without parliamentary interference. Government bodies such as various constitutional bodies are paid by these “non-votable expenditures” that are decided or presented by the “Consolidated Fund of India”.

Various properties of charged expenditure

• “Article 202” in the “Constitution of India” consists of various legislations, rules and policies that need to be followed by the parliamentary bodies while presenting the “Annual financial statement”. All the expenditures that have been charged by the “Consolidated Fund of India” need to be proposed during the “annual budget” for distinguishing other expenditures based on the “revenue account”. “Article 322 of the “Indian constitution” consists of all the allowances under “charged expenditures” to pay “public service” providers in India.
• All of these “charged expenditures” are considered as non-votable, which means that if the parliamentary bodies do not approve them, still  these amounts can be spent. The Indian government’s “debt charges” for these expenses means regardless of conflicts among internal bodies, all charged expenses must be used or paid.
•  As per “Article 112” of the Indian constitution, the annual budget of India must include all sorts of charges as well as voted expenditures for a better understanding of the expenses. As per the “Article 112” and “Article 113” of the “Constitution of India”, most of these “charged expenditures” are used to protect or safeguard various interests of “Indian judiciary bodies”, “President of India” and “constitutional bodies” within each state. 

Various applications of “charged expenditures”

• These funds are mostly used to pay the salaries, different allowances and for meeting various requirements of employees within the “President’s office”.
• Parliamentary bodies such as the “speaker of Lok Sabha”, “Chairman” as well as the “deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha” are paid by these non-votable expenditures.
• The “Consolidated Fund of India” ensures that the “charged expenditures” are used properly to pay salaries and different allowances to all the “Judiciary bodies” across India. In the case of the “Indian High court”, all the retired judges got their pensions that are considered as “charged expenditures”.
• Except for that, these charges are also used to pay various interests, “redemption costs” as well as various “sinking fund charges” to avoid financial breakdown. All these charges have to be listed initially during the “Annual budget presentation” of India.

Difference between charged and voted expenditures

• All the “voted expenditures” in India need to be approved via voting by all the parliament. However, in case of “non-votable or charged expenditures”, the “Consolidated Fund of India” is solely responsible to select and present them during the “Annual budget”.
• In the case of “voted expenditures”, the “lower house of the Indian parliament” has to verify those spending as the “government of India” cannot spend them independently without considering the well-being of the Indian residents. On the other hand, all kinds of “charged expenditures” are used to protect the interests and financial stability of “Indian constitutional or judiciary bodies”. 

Conclusion

It can be concluded from this discussion that “charged expenditures” are quite important to pay the allowances to the Indian “judiciary or constitutional bodies”. The “consolidated fund of India” can work independently without taking permission from the “Lower house of the parliament” to select the required expenses. However, these expenditures need to be declared under the supervision of the presidents during the presentation of the “annual budget”.