Amid a walkout by the DMK and the Congress in the Assembly on Thursday, the House passed a Vote on Account of ₹4,634 crore enabling the government to meet the expenditure needs for the first five months of the Financial Year 2024-25.
In a short session, lasting around an hour, the Assembly passed the Vote on Account after Chief Minister N. Rangasamy moved the Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill, 2024. The government relied on presenting an Interim Budget, citing the impending Parliamentary election.
The House also passed the Revised Estimate, amounting to ₹12,250 crore, for 2023-24. The outlay fixed for the current financial year in the full Budget presented by the Chief Minister in March last year was ₹11,600 crore.
Two Bills — to make necessary amendments to The Puducherry Town and Country Planning Act for removing hurdles in implementing building regularisation scheme; and a legislation giving statutory support to start small and medium enterprises without government permission for the first three years — were also passed.
According to the statement of object mentioned in the Puducherry Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the government had, in 2022, inserted clauses in the Act to regularise and penalise unauthorised constructions. According to them, the buildings constructed before April, 1987 and after December 2021, were ineligible for regularisation.
There were difficulties in enforcing the amended clauses in the Act.
“The unauthorised constructions, which have already come up over the years, cannot be demolished. The demolition amounted to wastage of national wealth and lead to law and order problems. To remove difficulties in implementing the regularisation scheme, the Bill has been brought in to remove the cut-off ceiling date,” the statement said.
According to a source, the amendment to the Town and Country Planning Act was to regularise unauthorised buildings that have come up in deviation to sanctioned plans by offering a one-time settlement. The government aimed at earning a revenue of ₹300 crore to ₹500 crore by offering the one-time settlement option to builders for regularisation.
The other legislation, The Puducherry Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Exemption from Approvals to Commence Business) Bill, 2024, would allow to-be entrepreneurs to start business without any approval for the first three years. “The Bill ensures that a person who intends to start a business should submit a letter of intent and obtain an acknowledgement from the Industrial Guidance Bureau. The person should get necessary approval, licenses and clearance after three years of starting production. The Bill will ease pressure on MSMEs in obtaining permission to establish units and give enough breathing time to get necessary approval...,” the official said.
After passing the Bills, the house adjourned sine die.
