SRINAGAR – The first budget of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is set to be presented in the Indian Parliament for approval soon.
Highly placed sources told a Srinagar based news agency that budget for five months of the ongoing fiscal for J&K UT will be presented in both Houses of the Parliament in next few days.
“The budget would be approved by or before December 13 by the Parliament, “they said.
After bifurcation of the State, President of India Ram Nath Kovind gave authorization for utilization of funds, pending approval of the Parliament.
Approval of the budget for five months of the financial year was necessary due to bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh from October 31.
On December 15 last year, the State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by the then Governor Satya Pal Malik had approved Rs 88,911 Crore budget for 2019-20.
The Parliament’s approval is required because Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory is presently without an elected Legislative Assembly.
Post Parliament’s nod to re-organisation of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, the State authorities had started preparations for separate budgets for both the UTs.
They have held threadbare discussions with officials of Union Home and Finance Ministries to finalize the budget.
An official said that budget for the UT is likely to be around Rs 37000-40000 Crore for five months, starting from October 31, 2018.
“Ahead of the budget, several officials of J&K Finance department today left for New Delhi. They are expected to remain in the capital till presentation of the budget,” he said.
It is worthwhile to mention here that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on November 28 sought Parliament’s nod for providing Rs 8,820 Crore for the newly formed Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in lieu of 14th Finance Commission Award for them.
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