J-K Assembly's first budget session in 6 years to begin on March 3

The Budget Session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will begin on March 3 with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha's address, officials said on Thursday.

This will be the first budget of the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference government after assuming power on October 16 last year, ending a six-year-old central rule.

"I, Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, under the provisions of Section 21(1) of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, call upon the Members of the Legislative Assembly to assemble in the Legislative Assembly Complex at Jammu on Monday, the 3rd of March, at 10 am to hear my address," read a bulletin issued by the Assembly secretariat.

In another bulletin, the Assembly Secretariat requested the members not to send more than 10 starred and 10 unstarred questions in relaxation of Rule 32 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business and not more than three bills in relaxation of sub-rule (3) of Rule 65 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business by or before February 10.

The members were also asked not to send more than four resolutions in terms of Rule 174 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly by or before February 16.

The officials said the session is likely to be of three weeks duration and the budget to be presented by the chief minister, who himself holds the charge of the Finance Department, has to be approved by the legislature before the end of March.

This will be the first time that Abdullah will be presenting the budget in the Assembly. He had held the charge of the Home and General Administrative departments among others during his previous stint as the chief minister in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir from 2009 to 2014.

The previous five budgets were presented and passed by Parliament in the absence of a legislative Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, while the then governor Satya Pal Malik-led state administrative council passed the budget for 2019-2020 after the fall of the PDP-BJP government in June 2018.

This will be the second Assembly session of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative Assembly since the formation of the NC-led government in the Union Territory.

Earlier, the Assembly met in Srinagar from November 4 to 8, within 20 days after the formation of the government.

The central government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and bifurcated it into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh -- in August 2019.