Story so far: On March 22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman moved the two Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bills in the Rajya Sabha for consideration.
The two Bills – Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bill, 2022 and Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation (No. 2) Bill, 2022 – will allow the Centre to authorise payment and appropriation of certain sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of the Union Territory for the services of the Financial Year 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively.
According to the first Bill, “from and out of the consolidated fund of Jammu and Kashmir, there may be paid and applied sums not exceeding those specified in column 3 of the Schedule amounting in the aggregate to the sum of eighteen thousand eight hundred sixty crore, thirty-two lakh and thirty-four thousand rupees towards defraying the several charges which will come in course of payment during the financial year 2021-22 in respect of the services specified in column 2 of the Schedule.”
What is an Appropriation Bill
As per article 114 of the Constitution, the government can withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund only after receiving approval from Parliament. An Appropriation Bill specifies the quantum and purpose of the government for withdrawing money.
The government introduces the Appropriation Bill in the Lower House after discussions on Budget proposals and Voting on Demand for Grants.
The Bill is first passed by the Lok Sabha and then sent to the Rajya Sabha. The Rajya Sabha has the power to recommend any amendments. However, it is the prerogative of the Lok Sabha to either accept or reject the recommendations made by the Upper House.
The salient feature of the Appropriation Bill is its automatic repeal clause, whereby the Act gets repealed by itself after it meets its statutory purpose.
What is Consolidated Fund of India
Under Article 266 (1) of the Constitution, the Consolidated Fund of India is made up of – (1) all revenues received by the Centre by way of taxes (Income Tax, Central Excise, Customs and other receipts) and all non-tax revenues (2) all loans raised by the Centre by the issue of treasury bills (internal debt) and from foreign governments and international institutions (external debt).
What is the Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bill, 2022
In case of Jammu and Kashmir, the Bill was issued on October 31, 2019, under section 73 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. In October 2019, Section 73 Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 was invoked and a proclamation was issued, whereby the operation of several provisions of the said act was suspended, leading to the suspension of the Assembly. Subsequently the governance of Jammu and Kashmir came directly under the powers of the central government.
The Act, under Section 74 provides powers to the President to authorise payment, if the assembly is dissolved or the functioning is suspended, from the Consolidated Fund of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, pending the sanction of such expenditure by Parliament.
The sums authorised to be paid from and out of the Consolidated Fund of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir by this Act shall be appropriated for the services and purposes (including revenue for general administration, finance, law, social welfare, housing and other departments) expressed in the Schedule to the said year.
Why was it introduced
A supplementary demand for grants was introduced by the Minister for 2021-22 for the amount of Rs 18, 860 crore. For 2022-23, the highest allocation has been for the education department at Rs 11, 832 crore, followed by Rs 10,830 crore for the home department and Rs 9,856 crore for the public health engineering department. For the health and medical education department, Rs 7,872 crore has been allocated.
In August 2019, the Central government had abrogated many provisions of Article 370 resulting in revocation of the special status to the Union Territory.
While taking up the Bill for discussion on the Budget of Jammu and Kashmir, Ms. Sitharaman said 40,000 projects were completed in 2021-22. “The Union Territory has witnessed a 90% decrease in ceasefire violations as it reduced from 900 in 2020 to 98 in 2021,” she said, adding, “terrorism has been contained and infiltration has declined significantly.”
Speaking on the investment front, she said, “Rs 44, 177 crore investment proposals have already been received. Employment potential from that is 1.80 lakh, most of the investment proposals are from outside.”
“A whole lot of financial reform has taken place since 201. As per CMIE, the rate of unemployment has reduced to 13. 2 percent,” she added.
Jammu and Kashmir Budget
On March 14, the Union Territory’s Budget was presented and passed by the Lok Sabha.
The House passed the Budget totalling Rs 1.42 lakh-crore for Jammu and Kashmir and also Supplementary Demands for Grants seeking additional spending of Rs 18,860 crore for the Union Territory.
The capital expenditure is estimated to be Rs 41, 335 crore in 2022-23, 17.4 per cent higher than the revised estimates for this fiscal, while the revenue expenditure is estimated to increase 6.5 percent to Rs. 71, 615 crore.
