The President, on the recommendation of the government, on Tuesday prorogued the Budget session of the Lok Sabha to enable expenditure after April 1 in the centrally ruled Uttarakhand from the Consolidated Fund of India.
The President also prorogued the Rajya Sabha to bring an ordinance related to amendments in the Enemy Property Act, 1968. The Bill to amend the original Act couldn’t be passed during the first half of the Budget session.
An ordinance can only be promulgated when a legislature is not in session, and it has to be approved by the legislature within six weeks of reassembly.
It is rare for the Budget session of Parliament to be prorogued. The first half of the Budget session began on February 23 and went into a 40-day recess on March 16. The second half of the session was to reconvene on April 25 and continue until May 13. Sources in the parliamentary affairs ministry said a notification for a fresh session would be issued in due course, but maintained that the new session was likely to keep its date with the earlier schedule of April 25.
In a late night and a rare decision, the Cabinet Committee of Parliamentary Affairs, headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, recommended the prorogation of the Budget session. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu then apprised President Pranab Mukherjee of the need to prorogue the Budget session of the Lok Sabha to ensure Uttarakhand has money to pay salaries.
The state was put under President’s rule on March 27, without the Assembly having passed the Appropriation Bill.
Article 357 (1)(c) of the Constitution defines the exercise of legislative powers of the President when a state is put under central rule. The President can authorise, when the Lok Sabha is not in session, expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India. It is to be approved by the Lok Sabha later.
In the case of Uttarakhand, the government has maintained that the Appropriation Bill was passed in the Assembly on March 18 under questionable circumstances, with 35 legislators, which included 9 Congress “rebels” and 27 BJP MLAs, voted against the Bill and only 32 voted in its favour.
The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs also gave its nod for the prorogation of the Rajya Sabha to enable re-issue of the ordinance to amend the Enemy Property Act.
The amendment was passed by the Lok Sabha but was referred by the Rajya Sabha to a select committee.
