Budget Bill Stuck in Council: Salaries, Pensions Doubtful?

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led state government is staring at a financial crisis after the Council could not pass the crucial Appropriation Bill in the just concluded two-day budget session. Due to ruckus between ruling party leaders and opposition party leaders in the Council, the Chairman has adjourned the Council sine die. This adds to the woes of the state government.

Due to this adjournment of Council without passing the Appropriation Bill, the state government cannot withdraw even a single rupee from the treasury with effect from July 1st. So, the government couldn’t even pay its salaries, pensions to the employees if the bill is not passed on time. The government had to ensure that the Appropriation Bill was passed by the Council to avoid the crisis.

While the Assembly had passed the Appropriation Bill 2020-2021 today morning, Council had stalled the bill due to ruckus between ruling and opposition MLCs.

Yanamala Cautioned, But Govt Clueless

Though former finance minister and present Opposition Leader in Council Yanamala Rama Krishnudu had cautioned the government and insisted that the Appropriation Bill must be introduced first and taken up for discussion, the ruling party had not taken it seriously. The ruling party leaders had insisted that the Council should first discuss the bills that were passed by the Assembly on Tuesday whereas the Appropriation Bill was passed by the Assembly only on Wednesday.

Ruling party leaders had brought APCRDA Bill 2020 and Decentralization of Administration – Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill 2020 in the Council for the clearing. TDP MLCs had strongly opposed both of these bills.

TDP Has Majority, YCP Has Minority

TDP enjoys a majority in the Council. Of the total 58 members in the Council, Opposition TDP has 28 members whereas the ruling YCP has meager 12 members and others are 12 members which includes BJP, IND and PDF. As TDP has majority, it didn’t allow to pass the APCRDA Bill and Decentralization Bill claiming that these two bills were opposed by the majority of the people.

The Appropriation Bill is a crucial bill that makes way for the states annual budget. Since it is a money bill, the Appropriation Bill is supposed to be passed in 14 days as per the rules, say legislature sources.

Now, one has to wait and watch how the government would deal with this situation.