{"id":153796,"date":"2015-11-26T02:22:09","date_gmt":"2015-11-25T20:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=153796"},"modified":"2015-11-30T15:05:07","modified_gmt":"2015-11-30T09:35:07","slug":"legality-of-the-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/legality-of-the-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Legality Of The Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Chrishmal Warnasuriya<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Chrishmal<\/a>

Chrishmal Warnasuriya<\/p><\/div>\n

Legality Of The Budget:\u00a0The Citizen\u2019s Power Over the Public Purse\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Given that one-in-every-ten words we hear these days have something to do with \u201cthe budget\u201d, I thought of posting a few related thoughts, purely from a politico-legal perspective, for public dialogue and debate; with the primary intention of invoking a thought process in the all powerful Sri Lankan citizenry, who are at least in theory and in Law, supposedly the supreme authority over public expenditure, fiscal policy and management of the State\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n

As man\u2019s unlimited wants grew out of proportion with the limited resources available, the same constraints on time spent in governing a country, such as the decision making process of allocating its limited resources to meet these demands also automatically evolved; from \u201cdirect- democracy\u201d as practiced in the historical nation-states like Athens or Sparta where the citizens themselves directly participated in decision making to what we have now, which is \u201crepresentative-democracy\u201d, where we elect a few chaps periodically and pay them a salary (and in my opinion excessive perks) to do this job for us. A primary annual task of these elected representatives is to debate and arrive at the best possible manner of allocating our limited resources to meet our unlimited requirements, by approval or dissent of the Appropriation Bill; in popular parlance referred to simply as \u201cthe budget\u201d.<\/p>\n

Legal \/ Constitutional Basis for Public Expenditure<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we know the absolute sovereign of this Republic (at least in theory) is us, the Citizen, in terms of Article 3 of the Constitution; not for instance some king or queen as in a monarchy and therefore any governmental action including public expenditure must be sanctioned by us. So how does this scheme work in terms of the law?<\/p>\n

* Expenditure planning by the Executive<\/em> \u2013 by Article 4(b) read with Article 43 we have authorized our representatives holding our Executive Power, the President & Cabinet to analyze our competing interests with the resources available for this year (not how much they get to spend and put up shows for us on TV) and plan out the various allocations to ministries, which is then presented as the Budget through the Finance Minister;<\/p>\n

* Debate and approval or disproval by the Legislature<\/em> \u2013 by Article 4(a) we have vested our Legislative Power in a Parliament and the checks & balances work in two principal ways \u2013<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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  • \uf0a7 \u00a0to debate whether the Budget that has been presented is indeed the right way to manage our monies (not agree simply because they get some gratification thrown their way by the Executive) and if not, to defeat it;<\/li>\n
  • \uf0a7 \u00a0Their job doesn\u2019t end there, as once those monies are allocated they are supposed to monitor its actual expenditure via parliamentary oversight committees etc and ensure that our intended purposes have been met<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    * Judicial Review \u2013<\/em> By Article 4(c) we have sanctified for our punitive powers in public trust in a system of Courts, Tribunals and a judicial system, which is meant to ensure that those who violate our laws and thereby harm us are dealt with and disciplined<\/p>\n

    This is how the Sri Lankan Citizen expects to exercise his\/her absolute power over public expenditure, which looks very promising indeed in theory; but how is it practiced?<\/p>\n

    An Important Correction – Misnomer over the Budget Speech<\/strong><\/p>\n

    I heard it said recently over the media that no sooner the budget speech was read in parliament, that gave sanctity to act upon its proposals; so basically traders could run and paint the town pink (if they so wished), increase prices of goods and services based on budget proposals \u2013 this is wrong law!<\/p>\n

    What then is the \u201clegal basis\u201d for acting upon the budget? Erskine May<\/em> argues that a constitutional principle operates, that it must be \u201cauthorised by law\u201d which on this occasion comes in the form of parliamentary assent for the \u201cAppropriation Bill\u201d (which upon such assent becomes \u201cLaw\u201d). Dicey too follows, that \u201cthe power over the purse\u201d (by Parliament) provides the legal basis for the constitutional subordination of the Executive to Parliament and therefore by implication to the People; who in Sri Lanka are the absolute repositories of this power. Speaking in political scientific theory there is also a \u201cquantitative\u201d and a \u201cqualitative\u201d distinction of this power of the People. The votes (in favour or opposed) represent our choice of priorities amongst competing interests for resources this year. This is why the Appropriation Bill must be won in a vote to become law and only then will it acquire a legal binding; this is why a government must return to the House and obtain another vote if they were to change any proposals and a government can fall if the vote is continuously defeated. The Bill alone does not attribute legality; it only sets out the quantitative<\/em> parameters for spending and it is only permanent legislation (such as Acts passed for separate projects thereafter or existing Acts under which subsequent expenditure is incurred) that provides the qualitative<\/em> legal basis for that authorisation of spending.<\/p>\n

    Therefore it is good to stand corrected, perhaps for the media too not to encourage traders or dealers to breach this important public law; proposals do not attract legality until they are approved by the People through this vote!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Accountability \u2013 Checks on Public Expenditure<\/strong><\/p>\n

    This is once again an area which I feel we lose out on as a democracy, because whilst everyone including the buffalo tied to the coconut tree in the yard is spellbound to hear what \u201cthey will get from the budget\u201d on the day of the speech; everyone including that same buffalo and the so called Opposition (it is not clear if we have one or more or none in the present Parliament) forget it altogether and we await for another speech the following year.<\/p>\n

    So how important is budgetary monitoring? How many civil society groups do we have, perhaps with dedicated economists who will engage the public through regular discourse on what had been assured and what had been delivered \/ not delivered? I will let you be the judge! There are several ways in which we the people may question public expenditure:<\/p>\n

    \uf0b7 Via the office of the Auditor General – Which is meant to carry out an annual audit on the various ministerial allocations of monies and how they have been spent<\/p>\n

    * It is hoped that we will have the proposed National Audit Legislation coming out soon. We are made to understand that provision has been made for VFM audits (Value for Money) rather than the age-old expenditure accounting, which is simply to see whether there is a bill in the file for the monies spent. We all know how easy it is to get such a \u201cbill in the file\u201dwhether or not you have spent the money<\/p>\n

    * VFM Audit in contrast will permit the Officers of the Auditor General\u2019s Dept to dig deep into the various heads of expenditure and actually question officials on how much \u201cvalue for the money\u201d was achieved. A VFM audit must ensure that monies were spent \u2013<\/p>\n

      \n
    • \uf0a7 \u00a0Economically \u2013 what efforts have been taken to minimise the costs involved in that particular project<\/li>\n
    • \uf0a7 \u00a0Efficiently \u2013 has the spending in question achieved or obtained maximum results achievable or in other words, has it performed to capacity,<\/li>\n
    • \uf0a7 \u00a0Effectively \u2013 what is the extent to which the policy objectives of the government in authorising that spending had been achieved?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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      • \uf0b7 \u00a0Public Accounts Committee \/ COPE \u2013 These are creatures of parliament itself, ideally to be under a Chairmanship of an opposition MP so that there will be a transparent process<\/li>\n
      • \uf0b7 \u00a0Judicial Review by Courts – Article 4(c) is a constitutional right that it is the \u201cPeople\u2019s Judicial Power\u201d that is exercised through Courts & Tribunals and if the People\u2019s Executive is not attending to public expenditure as it ought to, it is a constitutional safeguard or a checking mechanism available to the citizen to challenge it before Courts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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        How will our Courts respond to this challenge<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Traditionally Courts have exercised restraint in stepping into what is generally considered a \u201cno- go area\u201d for judges (of public policy) which is regarded as best left to elected people\u2019s representatives in Parliament. However consistent breaches of the People\u2019s Public Trust by them left Courts with no alternative but to answer several public spirited citizens that came before it during the early 2001 \u2013 2004 era with valid grievances of corruption and abuse of public funds, thus creating a wealth of legal authority in Public Interest Litigation (PIL) such as those cases involving P-Toms, Water\u2019s Edge, SLIC. Unfortunately we do not see similar public applications to Court over several recent issues, such as Avante Garde or Dubai Money affairs, as perhaps those citizens are no more or they are no longer interested.<\/p>\n

        Why Courts have generally left such spending to the checks by the system itself, via institutions such as the Treasury, Public Accounts Committees or the Auditor General was principally predicated on the assumption that these mechanisms were strong enough to regulate the system. However by the political paradox of the previously independent \u201cPublic \/ Civil Servant\u201d, some of whom at times in our golden history had the will to question even the Head of the Executive being rendered nothing but a simple \u201cGovernment Servant\u201d or a \u201cYes-Man\u201d for any party of the day, the People must now find other avenues of checking on how our monies are spent and how best we can assure ourselves the \u201cgood governance\u201d and the \u201crule of law\u201d that was promised to us; which some of us rallied the People to demand, which they answered with a resounding \u201cYES\u201d both on the 8th of January and 17th of August this year.<\/p>\n

        Power to the People!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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