Budget session to start after MCD polls: Sheila

The Delhi government will announce its budget for financial year 2012-13 in May.

The Delhi government will announce its budget for financial year 2012-13 in May.

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With the MCD elections likely to take place in the first week of April, chief minister Sheila Dikshit said the budget session would be convened only after the new members of the MCD house takes the oath of office.

“We will call a one or two-day session to take vote on account in March. The proper budget session will only be convened after the MCD elections, which are due in April,” Dikshit said.

‘Vote-on-account’ is the nod of the house taken to use a part of the money from the government’s coffers to incur its expenditure during the period when the elections are underway.

Interestingly, this year’s budget session may not start with the customary address of the Lieutenant-Governor. According to the rules, procedure and conduct of business of the Delhi Assembly, the first assembly session every year starts with the L-G’s address.

While the budget session in March has always been the first assembly session of the year and it starts with the L-G’s address, 2012 has been an exception. This is first time the winter session of the Assembly has taken place in January instead of December, which has been the practice ever since the Metropolitan Council came into being in 1966.