Budget 2019: What is Public Account?

What is Public Account?

The reference to Public Account of India can be found in Article 266 of the Indian Constitution which states that -- 'All other public moneys received by or on behalf of the Government of India or the Government of a State shall be entitled to the public account of India or the public account of the State, as the case may be.'

What is the Public Account comprised of?

Provident Funds, Small Savings collections, the income of Government set apart for expenditure on specific objects such as road development, primary education, other Reserve/Special Funds among other things.

Parliamentary Authorisation

There is no need for parliamentary authorisation for withdrawal of funds that do not belong to the government and have to be paid back to the depositors - provident fund, for instance.

But that isn't the case with money that is allocated from the Consolidated Fund for specific object or projects and transferred to the Public Account. The expenditure amount on the specific object has to then go through a vote of the Parliament before its withdrawal from the Public Account.