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The Lok Sabha passed the Appropriation (No. 3) Bill, 2026 by voice vote on 4 August 2026.
The Bill authorises withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund of India to cover excess expenditure incurred during the financial year that ended on 31 March 2023.
It was passed amid repeated disruptions, with the House adjourned for the day soon afterwards.
Regularising excess expenditure is a constitutional requirement, since no money may be spent from the Consolidated Fund without authorisation by law.
Other Bills pending in Parliament at the time included the Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and the Supreme Court Judges (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026.
The Constitution allows no money to be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund of India except under appropriation made by law. In practice, a ministry occasionally spends more on a service than Parliament voted for it, and the overspending is discovered only after the year has closed and the accounts have been audited. The money cannot be un-spent, but the constitutional breach has to be cured, and that is what an excess grant does — Parliament retrospectively authorises what was already paid out. The sequence is deliberate and worth memorising: the Comptroller and Auditor General reports the excess, the Public Accounts Committee examines it and asks the ministry to explain, and only then are demands for excess grants placed before the House and given effect through an Appropriation Bill. That is why this Bill, passed in August 2026, concerns a year that ended in March 2023 — the gap is the time taken by audit and committee scrutiny, not administrative delay. Note also that an Appropriation Bill is a Money Bill, so the Rajya Sabha may discuss and recommend but cannot amend it.
Simple Analogy: It is like an employee who exceeded an approved budget: the money is gone, but the board must still formally record and sanction the overspend after the auditor has explained how it happened.
The account into which all government revenues flow; no money may be withdrawn from it except under appropriation made by law, which is why this Bill was necessary.
The mechanism by which Parliament retrospectively authorises expenditure that exceeded the amount originally voted for a service in a completed financial year.
Audits government accounts and reports instances of expenditure exceeding the sanctioned grant, setting the process in motion.
Examines the CAG's findings on excess expenditure and recommends regularisation before the demands are placed before the House.
An Appropriation Bill is a Money Bill, so the Rajya Sabha may make recommendations but cannot amend it, and must return it within fourteen days.
GS Paper 2 > Parliament: Financial Procedures, Budget and Committees
General Awareness > Polity > Parliament and Budget
General Awareness > Economy > Government Finance
General Awareness > Polity > Parliamentary Procedure
A Bill authorising withdrawal of specified sums from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet expenditure voted by the House; classified as a Money Bill.
Retrospective parliamentary authorisation for expenditure that exceeded the amount originally voted for a service in a completed financial year.
The principal government account, from which no withdrawal may be made except under appropriation made by law.
The parliamentary committee that examines the CAG's audit reports, including instances of excess expenditure, before regularisation.
A method of deciding a question by the volume of 'ayes' and 'noes' rather than by recording individual votes.