J&K Budget 2020-21: Union Finance Minister to unveil first financial statement in Parliament

SRINAGAR — The first budget of Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir is set to be unveiled in the Parliament on Tuesday.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present J&K UT’s maiden budget in the Parliament tomorrow at 12:00 noon, after question hour concludes.

“The budget will be approved by the Parliament before March 31 for the next financial year of 2020-21,” sources said, adding that Parliament will also give its nod to five months’ budget of ongoing fiscal of 2019-20 which was necessitated by bifurcation of the erstwhile state.

Annual budget of Jammu and Kashmir was set to cross the figure of Rs one lakh crore and could be around Rs 1.2 lakh crore.

After bifurcation of the State, President of India Ram Nath Kovind gave authorization for utilization of funds in the UT, pending approval of the Parliament.

On December 15, 2018, the State Administrative Council (SAC) headed by Governor Satya Pal Malik had approved Rs 88,911 crore budget for 2019-20.

The Parliament’s approval for budget is required because Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory is presently without an elected Legislative Assembly.

The J&K UT legislature will have powers to pass budget when there will be elected regime like Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry.

Post Parliament’s nod to re-organisation of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, the State authorities had started preparations for separate budgets for both the UTs.

They held threadbare discussions with officials of Union Home and Finance Ministries to finalize the budget.