The first session of the Legislative Assembly this calendar year will commence with the customary address by the Lieutenant Governor on March 26.
Unlike last year when the session commenced without the address by the Lieutenant Governor, the House will commence this year’s proceedings with her speech at 9.30 a.m. on Monday, said a government source.
Last year, Ms. Bedi had evinced interest in addressing the session but the government went ahead with the proceedings without her address because of the uneasy relationship between her and the Council of Ministers at that time.
After the Republic Day reception hosted by Ms. Bedi at Raj Nivas this year, the relationship between the Lt. Governor and the elected government had improved with the Chief Minister and Ministers discussing administrative matters with her. The improvement in the relations between the elected government and the titular head became more evident when the Chief Minister openly rebuked AIADMK leader A. Anbalagan for speaking against the Lieutenant Governor at a public function in which Ms. Bedi was the chief guest.
A source in the government said the Cabinet would soon meet to finalise the Lt. Governor’s speech.
On the first day of the Assembly, immediately after the address by the Lt. Governor, the Chief Minister would seek vote-on-account for the next three months.
Exception is now norm
Vote-on-account, a special provision given to the government to obtain the consent of Parliament/Assembly to withdraw money, would be followed by submission of supplementary grant to the House. Although the governments opt for a vote-on-account during election time, in the Union Territory it has become the practice of running the administration in the first few months of the financial year with an interim budget. The government had argued that a complete picture of allocation from the Union Government would be known only in the beginning of the financial year and accordingly a full budget would be presented.
A source in the Legislative Assembly told The Hindu that the Chief Minister wanted to present the full budget in April-May itself.
Stormy session
Although the session to present vote-on-account would be short, it would be stormy with the AIADMK and the All India N.R. Congress expected to raise several issues. The AIADMK had made its intent clear on raising the “silence” of the Congress on the delay in the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board by the Centre as mandated by the Supreme Court order.
The party had questioned the government’s decision to seek a vote-on-account instead of a full budget. The party would seek extension of the session by a few more days, said a party MLA.
