Question

Directions: The question consists of two statements, one labelled as 'Assertion' (A) and the other as 'Reason' (R). Examine these two statements carefully and select the correct answer.

Assertion (A): If the budget presented to the Rajya Sabha is not passed in the stipulated period, the budget proposals are not affected.

Reason (R): The Lok Sabha is more powerful, in financial matters, than the Rajya Sabha.

• A. Both A and R are individually true and R is the correct explanation of A.
• B. Both A and R are individually true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
• C. A is true but R is false.
• D. A is false but R is true.

Hint:

Recall the fourteen day rule for a Money Bill in the Rajya Sabha and what Article 109(5) says happens when that period runs out. Then ask why the Constitution set it up that way.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
Statement A describes what happens when the Rajya Sabha fails to act on the budget within the time allowed. Statement R makes a general claim about the financial powers of the two Houses.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
The budget, or the annual financial statement under Article 112, is carried through Parliament by Money Bills. Article 109 lays down the special procedure for a Money Bill.
A Money Bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha. Once the Lok Sabha passes it, the Bill goes to the Rajya Sabha, which may only make recommendations and must return the Bill within fourteen days.

Step 3: Testing statement A:
If the Rajya Sabha does not return the Bill within fourteen days, Article 109(5) says the Bill is deemed to have been passed by both Houses at the end of that period, in the form in which the Lok Sabha passed it.
Even when the Rajya Sabha does send back recommendations, the Lok Sabha may accept or reject any of them. If it rejects them all, the Bill stands passed in its original form.
So the budget proposals go through untouched, no matter what the Rajya Sabha does or fails to do. A is true.

Step 4: Testing statement R:
The Lok Sabha is clearly the stronger House in money matters. Money Bills originate only there. Only the Lok Sabha votes on the demands for grants. The Rajya Sabha cannot amend or reject a Money Bill, and the Speaker's certificate decides whether a Bill is a Money Bill at all. So R is true.

Step 5: Does R explain A?
Ask why the fourteen day lapse costs the budget nothing. The answer is the deeming rule in Article 109(5), and that rule exists because the framers deliberately made the Rajya Sabha the weaker House on money.
The Rajya Sabha is not directly elected by the people, and the government answers to the Lok Sabha alone. Control over the purse was therefore given to the popular House. A is a direct working out of that design, which R states. So R explains A.

Step 6: Why the other options fail:
Option (B) denies the link, but the whole reason the delay is harmless is the Rajya Sabha's weaker financial position.
Options (C) and (D) each call one statement false, and both statements are correct.

Step 7: Final Answer:
Both are true, and the Lok Sabha's supremacy in money matters is exactly why Rajya Sabha inaction leaves the budget untouched.
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