Sinha to address Assembly on same day
BAC to take call on duration, business, budget date
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Jan 27: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has given nod for convening first budget session of J&K UT Legislature on March 3 during which annual budget of the Union Territory will be presented after six years.
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Officials told the Excelsior that the Lieutenant Governor will address the Legislature on March 3, first day of the budget session.
The UT Cabinet in its meeting held on January 20 had proposed budget session of the Legislature in first week of March which was exclusively reported by the Excelsior. The proposal was sent to the Lieutenant Governor who has fixed March 3 for start of the session with his address.
“Now, Legislative Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather will convene meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Legislature to finalize duration of the budget session by taking into account business before the House and also fix date for presentation of budget by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who holds charge of the Finance Department,” the officials said.
This will be for the first time that Omar will present budget in the Legislature as he held charge of Home, GAD and other departments during his previous stint as the Chief Minister from 2009-2014.
The budget has to be approved by the Legislature before March 31, the officials pointed out.
Normally, the UTs have brief budget session as compared to the States. Moreover, there are only six Ministers including the Chief Minister in Jammu and Kashmir at present with three vacancies in the Council of Ministers and only their grants will be debated before the budget is passed by the Legislature.
However, the Business Advisory Committee of the Legislature will take call on time to be allotted for debate on Motion of Thanks to the Governor’s Address, debate on budget and grants of the Ministries and Government business besides private member’s resolutions and bills.
“As the Government has been formed only few months back, its business could also be limited,” the officials said.
The Government had proposed three weeks session.
This will be second session of the Legislature as the first one was held from November 4-8 in Srinagar, within days after swearing-in ceremony of Omar Abdullah Government.
This will also be for the first time after six years that J&K’s budget will be presented in the Legislature.
Dr Haseeb Drabu had presented last budget of Jammu and Kashmir State in the Legislative Assembly on January 11, 2018 for the financial year of 2018-19 worth Rs 80,313 crore. However, in June 2018, Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition Government collapsed following withdrawal of support to the Government. In November, 2018, the Assembly was dissolved.
The budget for 2019-2020 was adopted by the then State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by then Governor Satya Pal Malik here on December 15, 2018 to the tune of Rs 88,911 crore.
Subsequent budgets of the Union Territory including 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 were presented and passed by the Parliament in the absence of Legislative Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir.
Ongoing financial year 2024-25 budget was presented in the Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23, 2024 worth Rs 1,18,728 crore. However, an interim budget of the UT (Vote-on-Account) was taken on February 5, 2024 in the Parliament in view of Lok Sabha elections.
Budget for 2023-24 of Jammu and Kashmir was also to the tune of Rs 1,18,500 crore.
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