The Fifth Finance Commission of India was constituted by the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

Dr. Zakir Hussain (8 February 1897 – 3 May 1969) known as Dr. Zakir Husain, was an Indian educationist and politician who served as President of India from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969. Born into an Afridi Pashtun family in Hyderabad, Husa ...

, on 15 March 1968. The commission was chaired by

Mahavir Tyagi Mahavir Tyagi (31 December 1899 – 22 May 1980) was a prominent Indian independence fighter and parliamentarian from Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh (now in Uttarakhand) India. Early life Tyagi was born on 31 December 1899 at Dhabarsi, Moradabad ...

Members

The members of the commission were: * Shri

, Chairman * Shri P.C. Bhattacharyya, died during the term of the Commission * Shri M. Seshachalapathy, retired Judge * Dr. D. T. Lakdawala * Shri V.L. Gidwani, Member Secretary * Shri G. Swaminathan, joined on 21 February 1969, in place of Shri P.C. Bhattacharyya

Recommendations

The Recommendations of the Fifth Finance Commission were wider than those of the previous commissions. Apart from the matters referred to in the earlier commissions, the fifth commission was required to: * Examine the desirability of maintaining existing arrangements in regard to additional excise duties levied in lieu of Sales Tax and the scope for extension of such arrangements to other items * To inquire into the unauthorized overdrafts of the States and recommend the procedure for avoiding such overdrafts * Examine the scope for raising revenue from taxes and duties mentioned in Article 269 of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. * Evaluate the scope in which States may raise additional revenue as well as to review state economies in terms of fiscal management and provide a comprehensive study of expenditures in various sectors. * Evaluate

grants-in-aid A grant-in-aid is money coming from a central government for a specific project. Such funding is usually used when the government and the legislature decide that the recipient should be publicly funded but operate with reasonable independence ...

recommended under Article 275(1) which are to be for purposes ‘other than the requirements of the Five Year Plan’ In addition, while making its recommendations, the commission was called upon to review "the resources of the

Central Government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...

and the demands thereon" related to expenditure on civil administration, defense, debt servicing, etc. * The commission was asked for the first time to indicate the basis of its findings and make available relevant information. Since then transparency in commission findings has been made clear in the Terms of Reference of every successive

Finance Commission The Finance Commissions (IAST: ''Vitta Āyoga'') are commissions periodically constituted by the President of India under ''Article 280'' of the Indian Constitution to define the financial relations between the central government of India an ...

References

Further References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fifth Finance Commission Finance Commission of India 1968 establishments in India