Lok Sabha passes Appropriation Bill amid din

The Lok Sabha passed the Appropriation Bill 2023-24 authorising payment and appropriation of specified sums from the Consolidated Fund of India amid sloganeering by the Opposition.

The House proceedings were marred by repeated disruptions since morning with the ruling side demanding an apology from Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over his remarks in London and the Opposition demanding a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the Hindenberg Research report on Adani Group.

When the Lok Sabha convened at 6 pm, Speaker Om Birla applied the guillotine, which means all the outstanding demands for grants of all ministries, whether discussed or not, are put to vote at once. Since the House proceedings have been disrupted, not a single ministry's demands for grants have been discussed. All the demands were passed by a voice vote. Once the prescribed period for the discussion on demands for grants is over, the Speaker applies the "guillotine". This is not the first time that there has been no discussion in Lok Sabha. On March 13, 2018, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had used the parliamentary procedure of guillotine and the Lok Sabha had passed the Finance Bill, Appropriation Bill and all demands for grants within half an hour. The Opposition was protesting against the '11,000 cr Punjab National Bank scam and some members were demanding special compensation packages for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.


After the guillotine was applied on Thursday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Appropriation Bill, which was passed as the Opposition raised slogans demanding JPC. The government had intended to push through the Finance Bill on Thursday and had included it in the supplementary list of business during the day. According to Lok Sabha Secretariat sources, the Opposition parties raised objections to the move. As the House convened at 6 pm to pass the Appropriation Bill, the Speaker assured the Opposition that the Finance Bill would not be passed on Thursday. The House was adjourned soon after.