PARAGRAPH 97

 EXCESS GRANT

97. (1) It is always the responsibility of the department administering a grant to ensure that the actual expenditure does not exceed the amount placed at its disposal by the Legislature. If expenditure over and above this amount becomes unavoidable, it is open to the department to obtain a supplementary grant before the close of the financial year. As such, excess expenditure which comes to notice after the expiry of the financial year is always looked upon as an irregularity.

(2) According to article 205 of the Constitution, if any money has been spent on any service during a financial year in excess of the amount granted for that service and for that year, i.e., if it is notices after the close of the financial year that the expenditure has, in fact, exceeded the grant as a whole, a demand for such excess has to be presented to the Legislature, and an ‘excess grant’ obtained. The procedure to be followed for obtaining an excess grant has been described in Appendix 15.