This will be the first ever full-fledged budget of the new Union Territory to be passed by Parliament

All eyes are on the first ever full-fledged budget for Union Territory Jammu and Kashmir that is expected to be passed by the Parliament this week.

Source said that J&K Finance Department has proposed a budget of over Rs one lakh crore for the new Union Territory. “In absence of elected government in UT, the Budget has to be approved by the Parliament,” they said.

“The budget will be presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and has to be passed by both houses of Parliament,” an official said. This will be the first ever full-fledged budget of the new Union Territory to be passed by Parliament.

Sitharaman also presented Centre’s budget in Parliament on Saturday.
She said Centre has proposed allocation of Rs 30,757 crore for Jammu and Kashmir, and Rs 5,958 crore for Ladakh for fiscal 2020-21.

This is the first time that Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh were allocated separate funds since the two were carved out of the erstwhile state and given the status of Union Territories.

Last year, the State Administration Council headed by the then Governor Satya Pal Malik had approved Rs 88,911 crore for Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir had adopted the practice of passing the budget in January in order to give ample time to heads of departments, district development commissioners and other officials to ensure optimum utilization of financial resources.

With the reorganization of J&K into two UTs of J&K and Ladakh, the administration had to divide the budget for 2019-20 approved by the State Administrative Council for erstwhile state of J&K into parts. The first part was for first 8 months, up to October 31, 2019, the period during which J&K remained a single state. The other was for the period post-bifurcation of the state into two UTs.

According to J&K Re-organization Act 2019 “Where the Legislative Assembly is dissolved, or its functioning as such Assembly remains suspended, on account of an order under section 73, it shall be competent for the President to authorize, when the House of the People is not in session, expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir pending the sanction of such expenditure by Parliament.”

When elections are held in the Union Territory, its budget will be presented and approved by the Assembly.