Centre cuts short Budget session in view of Uttarakhand political crisis

New Delhi: In a rare development, the Budget session of Parliament was on Tuesday night prorogued to enable the government to issue an Ordinance for authorising expenditure beyond April one in the centrally-ruled Uttarakhand in view of the political crisis in the state.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh following questions over the status of the Appropriation Bill which was declared as passed by the Speaker in the Uttarakhand Assembly under controversial circumstances.

The Budget session, which began on February 23, has been recess since March 16 and was to meet again on April 25. With only two days left, government would not have been in a position to issue an Ordinance for drawing funds from the Consolidated Fund to enable the state to meet its expenditure needs beyond April one since it is under President's Rule.

After the CCPA meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu met President Pranab Mukherejee to brief him about the decision taken in the CCPA as well as developments that took place in Uttarakhand.

The President issued the order late in the night. Under Article 357(1)(c) of the Constitution the President can authorise, when the House of the People is not in session, the expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of the State pending the sanction of such expenditure by Parliament. For this the House of the People that is the Lok Sabha has not to be in the midst of a session.