JAMMU, Mar 18: Passage of Jammu and Kashmir budget remained stalled in Lok Sabha due to uproar leading to adjournment of the Parliament till 11 am on Monday but there were indications from the Union Finance Ministry that it would be passed before March 25 even if uproar persists and the Union Territory will get 50 percent budget well ahead of the beginning of next financial year from April 1, 2023.
After discussion followed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s reply, the budget was scheduled to be passed in Lok Sabha on Tuesday (March 14) i.e. a day after it was introduced in the House amid uproarious scenes. The budget was tabled in Lok Sabha by Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudhary on March 13 and Rajya Sabha on March 14. On both the occasions, the budget was laid on table of the Houses amidst furore from both the sides.
After approval from Lok Sabha, the budgetary proposals are to be debated in Rajya Sabha followed by the Finance Minister’s reply after which the budget will be passed.
“The budget can be released only after the Parliament nod,”’ official sources told the Excelsior.
They said senior officers from Jammu and Kashmir including Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, who has also been looking after the Finance Department in the absence of any Administrative Secretary Finance, Planning Secretary Raghav Langar, other bureaucrats and most of senior officers of the Finance Department camped in New Delhi till today as the budget was scheduled to be discussed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
