Uttarakhand's expenditure beyond April 1 gets Pranab's nod

President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday gave his nod to an ordinance authorising expenditure beyond April 1 in Uttarakhand which is under central rule, official sources here said.

"The president signed the ordinance yesterday (Thursday)," a union home ministry official told IANS.

The union government approved an ordinance on Wednesday to authorise government expenditure in Uttarakhand from April 1 in view of President's Rule in the hill state.

A union cabinet meeting, presided over by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took the decision.

The budget session of parliament was prorogued on Tuesday evening to enable the government promulgate an ordinance with regard to Uttarakhand.

Moreover, as the assembly is under suspended animation, the central government only had the ordinance route to meet the state government's expenditure needs from April 2016 onwards.

Notably, the state Appropriation Bill was declared as "passed" by the Uttarakhand assembly speaker, a claim contested by Congress rebel legislators and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the assembly.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also called it a "failed bill".

The Congress on Thursday said it will move court if the Centre issues an ordinance to nullify the budget already passed by the Uttarakhand assembly.