The Hindu : National : Session may be rescheduled

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 03, 2006

National

National

Session may be rescheduled

Neena Vyas

Necessary in view of elections

NEW DELHI: The schedule for Assembly elections in five States has forced the Government to think about "re-scheduling" and "reorganising" the Budget session to take up the Finance Bill before the parliamentary recess. That would mean that the Finance Bill could be taken up for discussion and passing around March 17 instead of post recess in late April-early May.

The statutory outer limit for passing of the Finance Bill is 75 days after the presentation of the Union Budget, that is about mid-May, but normally the Finance Bill is passed by May 1.

A proposal to this effect is to be discussed with leaders and chief whips of all political parties called by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi here on Friday morning.

The Minister told reporters that on Thursday morning he had already sounded the Leader of Opposition, L.K. Advani, "who did not seem to have any reservations on this."

If political parties are agreeable, the first part of the two-part Budget session could be extended by a few days — at the moment it is scheduled to come to an end on March 17 — and the Finance Bill taken up for discussion and adoption immediately after the Holi break.

If the plan is approved by party leaders Mr. Dasmunsi would consult the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee and place the proposal before the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs before concretising a new schedule that would try and complete almost all the critical financial business well before the end of this fiscal.

The post-recess part of the Budget session could then begin around May 8 by when campaigning for elections in the five States would come to an end.

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