DRAFT CONSTITUTION 669
introduce by an amendment provides for Parliament allowing a lump sum grant to the executive to be spent upon the services of the year for say about two months or so, so that the two months time will be available to Parliament to discuss in a much greater length—I don’t say fully—the budget provisions and the financial provisions of the Government. Unless, therefore, you have a provision for a vote on account i . e., lump sum grant given to executive to cover an expenditure for about two or three months, that may be decided by some agreement between the Government and the Leader of the Opposition—unless you make a provision for a vote on account you will not get time to discuss the budget at any greater length than what you have now. The House will remember that last time there was a great deal of feeling in the House that the Budget was rushed through, people had not more than seven or eight days given to them for the discussion of the different items and that the guillotine was applied. If the House therefore desires that it should have more time to discuss the details of the budget, to discuss the details of the financial provision, then some provision has got to be made in the Constitution whereby it will be open to the House to allow the executive to have a lump sum out of the Consolidated Fund, covering an expenditure of two months if the House wants two months for discussion. Since the provisions of article 93 are very stringent in the sense that no money can be spent unless the whole of the budget in all its details is passed we have got to make an exception to the provisions contained in article 93. Those exceptions are made by a provision which is called ‘Provision for Votes on account’. These are, if I may say so, the three main changes that we have made in the Draft Constitution, Sir, with these words I move the amendments I have tabled.
*Shri B. Das : ...I again feel happy that these articles, as now going to be amended, will be fool-proof and the Ministers will not play truant and will not be extravagant in expenditure. I again congratulate Dr. Ambedkar over it.
The Honourable Rev. J. J. M. Nichols-Roy (Assam : General) : Sir, before I speak, I would like to ask Dr. Ambedkar some clarification of certain points. Does this amendment force the Government of India
*CAD, Vol. VIII, 8th June 1948, p. 737.