With the government confident of getting clearance from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for the draft annual plan, the Legislative Assembly Secretariat has commenced the process to convene the budget session next week.
The Assembly Secretariat on August 8 had issued forms to the legislators seeking the list of questions to be placed in the house. “We have not formally announced the date for commencement of the session. It is most likely to start early next week,” an official in the Assembly Secretariat told The Hindu .
The Secretariat would announce the date immediately after the government received a written communication from the MHA approving the annual plan.
Last month, the State Planning Board, which met under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi, had recommended an annual plan outlay of ₹8,425 crore for 2019-20, up from the total budget outlay of ₹7,530 crore for the last financial year.
Own resources
Of the outlay envisaged for the current fiscal, the Union Territory’s own resources was pegged at ₹5,415 crore. The remaining would be met from Central assistance of ₹1,540 crore, anticipated grants for Centrally-sponsored schemes, negotiated loan and open market borrowings.
As per norm, the draft outlay had to be approved by the Union Finance Ministry and ratified by MHA before being presented in the Legislative Assembly for expenditure sanction.
“We are expecting a communication from the MHA any time. The government has given the go-ahead to commence preparations for convening the session after it received feedback from MHA about the draft annual plan,” said an official privy to the discussions.
The Cabinet is likely to meet soon to deliberate on the customary address of Lt. Governor to be delivered on the first day of the session.
Vote on account
The government had to pass a full budget before August 31, as the house had given expenditure sanction for the first five months for the current fiscal. In March, a vote on account for ₹2,703.63 crore was adopted to meet the expenditure of five months (April to August) due to the Parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile, the opposition parties — All India N R Congress, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Bharatiya Janata Party — have convened a meeting during the weekend to discuss floor coordination.
