Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament, Agni Prasad Sapkota, has held discussions with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba about convening the budget session of the parliament.
In a meeting held between the two at the PM’s official residence in Baluwatar on Sunday, they discussed the session of the parliament, government policies and programmes as well as the principles and priorities of the budget of the coming fiscal year 2022/23, according to the secretariat of Speaker Sapkota.
In previous years, the budget sessions used to start in the first week of May, even in case of delay. This time, the session was not convened due to upcoming election of local bodies. Preparations are underway to convene the session only after the election.
If the convention starts after the local level election, there will be no time to discuss the principles and priorities of the budget as per the regular procedure.
According to the rules of the House of Representatives, the principles and priorities of the Appropriation Bill have to be completed 15 days before the budget is presented.
The Speaker’s press advisor Shreedhar Neupane told The Rising Nepal that the government could recommend the President before the May 13 poll to summon the House session. But the House session could convene only after local elections.
According to the constitutional provision that the budget should be brought on May 30, the discussion should be completed latest by mid-May. Pre-budget discussion could be held even after the second week of May by suspending the rules.
Similarly, along with the pre-budget discussion, policies and programmes have to be completed before the budget is presented.
A special session of parliament was convened on April 10 last year for the purpose of taking a vote of confidence for the then government. The session ended with a vote of no confidence. The budget was brought through an ordinance by dissolving the House of Representatives without convening a budget session.
The current government had presented a Replacement Bill with slight modifications.
Earlier, in 2021, the budget session was started in the second week of May amidst the raging COVID-19 pandemic. Discussions were held on the principles and priorities of the budget and policies and programmes were approved within the stipulated time. In 2020, budget session was started in the first week of May.
Source : TRN,
