E-Paper
Andhra assembly to skip budget session, vote-on-account likely for few months
Without the passage of the appropriation bill in the assembly, the state government cannot draw a single rupee from the exchequer after April 1, for spending on implementation of various programmes and also for payment of salaries to government employees.
The Andhra Pradesh government is likely to go in for promulgation of an ordinance for approval of a vote-on-account budget for the initial few months of the 2021-22 financial year, instead of convening the budget session of the assembly.
It is mandatory that the approval of the annual budget for the coming financial year and passage of the appropriation bill by the state assembly happens before the closure of the present financial year on March 31.
Without the passage of the appropriation bill in the assembly, the state government cannot draw a single rupee from the exchequer after April 1, for spending on implementation of various programmes and even for payment of salaries to government employees.
The budget session of the Telangana assembly began on March 15. The Telangana government tabled its annual budget for the financial year 2021-22 on Thursday and is preparing for a debate on it from Saturday.
However, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government has not yet taken any decision on convening the budget session of the state assembly, though hardly 12 days are left for the conclusion of the financial year.
“We have not taken a call yet on the budget session of the assembly till now, but it is unlikely that the session will be held in the present circumstances,” said senior YSR Congress party leader and government chief whip in the state assembly G Srikanth Reddy.
He said holding of the budget session would become inconvenient for not only the government but also the opposition parties in the wake of announcement of the schedule for by-election to the Tirupati parliamentary seat.
“We are also insisting on completion of the elections to Zilla Parishad and mandal parishad (block parishad) at the earliest. Amidst the electioneering, it may not be possible to have a full-fledged budget session,” Reddy said.
The only option before the Jagan government is to promulgate an ordinance through the Governor under Article 213 (1) of the Constitution of India for the adoption of a vote-on-account budget for appropriation of money and release of approximate budgetary allocations for at least three months.
“Instead of hurrying through the budget in a short-duration, we can have a full-fledged budget session of the assembly at a later date and the budget can be passed after a thorough discussion in the House,” the chief whip said.
The state cabinet is expected to meet next week to adopt a draft ordinance to pass the vote-on-account for the first three months of the 2021-22 financial year and get it approved by Governor Biswa Bhushan Harichanan.
Last year, too, Jagan government could not convene the budget session of the state assembly in early March as it was planning to hold the same in the last week after the completion of elections to urban and rural local bodies.
However, the state election commission deferred the elections in the wake of the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic and by the time the government took any decision, the situation turned very serious forcing the Centre to announce a nationwide lockdown.
As a result, the government had to go in for promulgation of ordinance for the vote-on-account for three months. In the second week of June, it held a short two-day budget session to adopt the budget. The Governor had to address the joint session of the assembly and council through video conferencing mode in view of Covid-19 restrictions.
However, the appropriation bill, which was passed by the assembly, was withheld in the legislative council. Two weeks later, the bill was deemed to have been passed and the Governor gave his assent to the same.
