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THE CONSTITUTION, MADE UNDERSTANDABLE

Article 116
Votes on account, votes of credit and exceptional grants

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Source edition: as on 1 May 2026. Omitted and struck-down reference entries remain labelled. Open the authoritative PDF ↗

Article 116 / Part V

Votes on account, votes of credit and exceptional grants

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Plain languageOfficial textPurpose & sources
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THE PLAIN-LANGUAGE GUIDE

What does this mean?

Votes on account, votes of credit and exceptional grants allow specified forms of interim or unusual spending authorisation. They serve different situations and are not all simply full annual Budgets.

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PURPOSE & CONTEXT

Why is this provision here?

A legislature needs workable procedures and differentiated financial authorisations so it can scrutinise and legally conduct the business described above.

Historical evidence

This Article number belongs to the original constitutional framework, but its present wording may include later amendments or substitutions. A provision-specific original Assembly debate has not been verified here. The explanation of function above is editorial inference from the text, not an attributed single motive of the framers. The original draft-making archive is a research resource, not proof of a particular historical reason.

The explanation of purpose is an editorial reading of the provision. A drafting motive is attributed only where a linked historical source supports it.

Limits, exceptions & reading carefully

Educational summary of the linked source text. Exceptions, provisos, implementing laws and applicable judgments must be read before applying it to a real case.

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Read the official constitutional text
116. Votes on account, votes of credit and exceptional grants.— (1) Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this Chapter, the House of the People shall have power— (a) to make any grant in advance in respect of the estimated expenditure for a part of any financial year pending the completion of the procedure prescribed in article 113 for the voting of such grant and the passing of the law in accordance with the provisions of article 114 in relation to that expenditure; (b) to make a grant for meeting an unexpected demand upon the resources of India when on account of the magnitude or the indefinite character of the service the demand cannot be stated with the details ordinarily given in an annual financial statement; (c) to make an exceptional grant which forms no part of the current service of any financial year, and Parliament shall have power to authorise by law the withdrawal of moneys from the Consolidated Fund of India for the purposes for which the said grants are made. (2) The provisions of articles 113 and 114 shall have effect in relation to the making of any grant under clause (1) and to any law to be made under that clause as they have effect in relation to the making of a grant with regard to any expenditure mentioned in the annual financial statement and the law to be made for the authorisation of appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of India to meet such expenditure.

Extracted from the Legislative Department’s May 2026 edition. Page footnotes may refer to neighbouring provisions; check their markers in the PDF. Inclusion in this edition does not by itself establish commencement or judicial effect.