Delhi Government’s budget presentation, scheduled for March 21, has been postponed.
The Delhi government’s budget presentation for the fiscal year 2024-24, which was scheduled for Tuesday, has been postponed as the approval from the President did not arrive. The finance minister, Kailash Gahlot, was set to present the budget on March 21, at 11 p.m.
The Aam Aadmi Party blamed the chief secretary, accusing him of delaying the process and not passing on the request for clarification by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
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A timeline of the matter
The request for clarification by MHA was sent by the Delhi government on March 10. The MHA, having some concerns over the budget, refused to give it approval. This refusal was conveyed through a letter sent to Delhi’s Chief Secretary on March 17. Kailash Gahlot, Delhi’s finance minister, has remarked that the letter was kept hidden and he “learned about it only at 2 p.m. on March 20.”
The file was reportedly received by the Delhi government at 6 p. m., who responded to the concerns raised by the MHA and submitted the file to Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor at 9 p.m. According to those present at the office, the LG’s Secretariat received the file at 9.25 p.m. It was again sent back to the Chief Minister at 10.05 p.m.
The file has received LG’s approval but it needs to be sent to MHA for the presidential nod (which can be given by the financial minister). However, that is unlikely to happen, according to an official.
Response of the Delhi Government
The Delhi Government still plans to go through the presentation if they get the approval within time. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has accused the BJP-led centre administration of deliberately sabotaging Delhi’s budget presentation. Speaking to a television news channel, he said, ” The centre has blocked Delhi’s budget.” The budget will not be presented on March 21, as planned. The salary of the Delhi government employees would stop from the next day, He said. He called it “plain hooliganism”.
The reason behind the refusal
The officials in MHA have denied Kejriwal’s allegations, saying that the reason the budget did not get approval was that “the advertisement budget was larger than the infrastructure budget”.
Gahlot has denied the accusation. He explained that the advertisement budget is kept at 550 crores, similar to the previous year, whereas 22,000 crores had been allocated for capital expenditure. He accused the MHA of “spreading falsehoods” and believes that the whole affair was done to delay the budget presentation.
LG’s clarifications
In a statement by the MHA, it has been said that the Lieutenant Governor, who reports to the central administration, sought some clarifications on the budget on March 17. These clarifications have not been addressed by the Delhi government. The statement said that “for the benefit of the people of Delhi” the government should submit its reply.
The LG office reportedly sought clarifications on four counts.
The first one is related to capital expenditure, which the LG thought was inadequate.
The second was regarding the plan on subsidies as compensation for agencies with uneconomic recovery.
The third clarification was sought regarding schemes like Ayushman Bharat, which the Delhi government has not implemented. This has put additional funds out of reach.
Fourth, the budget estimate says the government plans to give more than 500 crores to the information and publicity department, compared to the 272 crores for this fiscal year.
Unprecedented postponement
According to retired staff of the Delhi assembly, this is an unprecedented postponement. Since 1993, the year when the first budget was presented, the Delhi and Centre administrations have been led by different parties multiple times. But, there has never been a controversy like this over the approval of the budget.
The Delhi government needs to present the budget by the end of the fiscal year or they will not be able to spend money on salaries, welfare schemes, etc.
