Articles 282 and 283 of the Constitution of India: Public Grants and Government Funds

Articles 282 and 283 form part of the miscellaneous financial provisions in Part XII of the Constitution of India. Article 282 deals with grants by the Union or a State for a public purpose. Article 283 deals with the legal framework governing custody, receipt and withdrawal of money in the Consolidated Funds, Contingency Funds and public accounts.

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Article 282 - Expenditure defrayable by the Union or a State out of its revenues

Article 282 is an enabling constitutional provision concerning grants for a public purpose. Its text provides:

The Union or a State may make any grants for any public purpose, notwithstanding that the purpose is not one with respect to which Parliament or the Legislature of the State, as the case may be, may make laws.

What Article 282 means

The provision permits the Union and the States to make grants for a public purpose even where the subject of that purpose lies outside the ordinary legislative field of the grant-making government. The expression "notwithstanding" makes clear that the grant-making power is not confined by the legislative distribution of subjects for this limited purpose.

In simple terms, Article 282 concerns the constitutional authority to provide discretionary grants for public purposes. It should be read in the wider setting of Part XII, including the constitutional provisions governing public finance and grants.

Article 283 - Custody of Consolidated Funds, Contingency Funds and public accounts

Article 283 specifies who may regulate the custody, receipt and withdrawal of public money at the Union and State levels.

Article 283(1) - Union funds and public account

The custody of the Consolidated Fund of India and the Contingency Fund of India, payment of moneys into and withdrawal of moneys from those Funds, custody of other public moneys received by or on behalf of the Government of India, their payment into the public account of India and withdrawal from that account, together with connected or ancillary matters, are regulated by law made by Parliament. Until such provision is made, they are regulated by rules made by the President.

Article 283(2) - State funds and public account

At the State level, corresponding matters concerning the Consolidated Fund of a State, the Contingency Fund of a State and the public account of the State are regulated by law made by the State Legislature. Until provision is made by such law, they are regulated by rules made by the Governor of the State.

Important: Article 283 primarily concerns custody and the regulatory machinery for handling public money. The constitutional rules governing what forms part of the Consolidated Fund and public account are also addressed in Article 266, while Contingency Funds are dealt with in Article 267.

Meaning of key financial terms

Consolidated Fund

The Consolidated Fund is the principal constitutional fund into which specified government revenues, loans raised and loan repayments are credited under Article 266. Article 283 then addresses the legal regulation of custody, payments into the Fund and withdrawals from it.

Contingency Fund

A Contingency Fund is provided for under Article 267 to meet unforeseen expenditure pending authorization in accordance with the Constitution. Article 283 governs the custody and related handling of such Funds.

Public account

The public account covers public moneys received by or on behalf of the Government other than those credited to the Consolidated Fund, as contemplated by Article 266. Article 283 addresses custody, payment into the public account and withdrawal from it.

Public purpose under Article 282

The Constitution uses the expression "public purpose" in Article 282 without providing a separate definition in that Article. The provision is significant because it expressly allows grants even where the purpose is not one on which the grant-making Union or State legislature is competent to make laws.

Official text and verification

For the authoritative constitutional wording and amendments, refer to the Constitution of India published by the Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice and the India Code portal.

This article is an explanatory guide. Where exact statutory or constitutional wording is material, the current official text should be consulted.