Govt likely to extend 15th Finance Commision's term by six months

Officials say there have been discussions on whether the treatment given to J&K will be unfair to Delhi and Puducherry

The term of the Fifteenth Finance Commission (15th FC) could be extended by around six months, primarily due to uncertainty regarding how to treat any devolution of resources to the newly formed union territories of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh, Business Standard has learnt. This implies that the 15th FC could submit an interim report before the Union Budget 2020-21 to enable Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her officials to prepare the Budget. The final report could be submitted at a later date. 

If the Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approves the extension, it will be