Assembly adjourns sine die after adopting Vote on Account bill

:Puducherry Assembly adjourned sine die today after transacting scheduled business, including passing of Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill,earmarking Rs 3,550 crore from the Consolidated Fund for the first six months (April-September) of fiscal 2016-17.
The Bill was tabled earlier by Chief Minister N Rangasamy.
The statement of objects and reasons of the Bill said the sum has been earmarked to enable government meet expenditure for the first six months (April-September) of 2016-17 fiscal.
A full fledged budget could not be presented in view of the model code now in force before the May 16 Assembly polls.
Earlier five of seven Congress legislators, led by leader of the Opposition V Vaithilingam, staged a walkout in protest against denial of permission to discuss the statement showing estimate of supplementary expenditure for fiscal 2015-16, tabled by the Chief Minister.

The two Congress legislators 'Theni C Jayakumar and P N R Tirumurugan remaned in the House till the end of proceedings.

Before the walkout Vaithilingam argued with the Speaker, stating that when the House was seeking permission for expenditure of more than Rs 120 crore already incurred under 'Revenue' for fiscal 2015-16, there should be a detailed discussion to know various aspects of the expenditure.
He also said the expenditure of Rs 100 crore incurred under 'pension scheme' should also be discussed.
The Speaker however reminded Vaithilingam he was a senior member and on most occasions in the past there had been no discussion while seeking permission for approval of the supplementary expenditure.

Though the Speaker asked him to ensure a happy conclusion of the session, Vaithilingam and colleagues K Lakshminarayanan and A Namassivayam insisted on a detailed discussion. Alleging there was no positive response to their pleas for a debate, the five Congress legislators staged a walkout and did not turn up till the session came to a close.
Before adjourning the House sine die, the CM and the Speaker thanked members for their cooperation in conducting proceedings in all the sessions of the house that came into existence in the wake of the polls held in 2011.
The CM listed the government's achievements and claimed that all promises had been fulfilled.