State PCS
The provision that the expenses of the Union or a State Public Service Commission, including the salaries of its members and staff, shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund is made in:
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option B — Article 322
Detailed Solution
Article 322 provides that the expenses of the Union Public Service Commission or a State Public Service Commission, including any salaries, allowances and pensions payable to or in respect of the members or staff of the Commission, shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or of the State, as the case may be.
Meaning of "charged expenditure":
- Expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund is not submitted to the vote of the legislature, although it can be discussed.
- This means that the legislature cannot reduce or refuse this expenditure.
Why the expenses of the PSCs are charged:
- The Public Service Commissions must be independent and impartial in the recruitment of civil servants.
- If their expenses depended on an annual vote of the legislature, the government or the ruling party might try to influence them by threatening to cut their funds.
- Making their expenses "charged" protects their financial independence.
Other bodies whose expenses are charged:
The salaries and allowances of the President, the Vice-President (as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha), the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the judges of the Supreme Court, the pensions of the judges of High Courts, and the Comptroller and Auditor-General are also charged on the Consolidated Fund of India.
Debt charges of the government, and sums required to satisfy any judgment of a court, are also charged expenditure.
Other provisions on the Public Service Commissions:
Article 321: The legislature may by law give additional functions to the Commissions.
Article 323: The Commissions shall present an annual report on their work; the report is laid before Parliament or the state legislature, along with a memorandum explaining any cases where the Commission's advice was not accepted and the reasons for this.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Article 320 deals with the functions of the Commissions; Article 321 with the extension of their functions; Article 323 with their annual reports.
Quick tip
Remember: Article 322 = expenses of the Public Service Commissions charged on the Consolidated Fund; Article 323 = their annual reports.
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Constitutional & Statutory Bodies — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Constitutional & Statutory Bodies, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers bodies set up under the Constitution, such as the Election Commission, UPSC, Finance Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General and the national commissions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and statutory or executive bodies such as NITI Aayog, the NHRC, the CVC, the CBI and Lokpal. Questions often ask whether a body is constitutional or not, which article creates it, who appoints its head and for how long. For example, the CAG is appointed under Article 148, the Finance Commission under Article 280, and NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission in 2015 by an executive resolution. Practise the constitutional and statutory bodies questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.