Rajya Sabha passes Appropriation (No.3) Bill, 2026

The Rajya Sabha passed the Appropriation (No.3) Bill, 2026, authorising excess expenditure incurred during FY2022-23. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the excess grants related to a Railway Ministry court order and debt repayment with no fiscal impact

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Thursday cleared the Appropriation (No.3) Bill, 2026, which seeks to provide for the authorisation of appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of India to meet the amounts spent on certain services during the financial year ended on March 31, 2023, in excess of the amounts granted.

Replying to the debate on the Bill, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “This is the demand for excess grant for expenditures undertaken in the year 2023 on just two accounts. These two accounts were a part of what the Public Accounts Committee in its 39th report presented to the Lok Sabha this year in April”.

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Explaining further, she said one excess demand arises from a particular court order that was on the Railway Ministry for Rs 196.44 crore. The second demand pertains to a larger amount of Rs 53,871 crore pertaining to the repayment of debt.

However, Sitharaman said the nature of debt receipts is against the issuance of securities and therefore has no fiscal impact. The Bill was returned to the Lok Sabha after the Upper House gave its nod to the legislation with a voice vote, thus completing the Parliamentary process for the Money Bill.