HYDERABAD: Finance Minister T Harish Rao will present the Budget in the State Legislative Assembly on March 7, the first day of the Budget session. As the previous session of the Legislature was not prorogued, there will be no Governor’s address this time. There will be no joint session of state legislature either. The state cabinet will meet on March 6 and approve the Budget.
The first meeting of the eighth session of Legislature concluded on October 8, 2021. As the session, which was adjourned, was not prorogued by the Governor, the Budget session will be considered as the second meeting of the eighth session.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who held a meeting with Ministers and other officials at Pragathi Bhavan on Monday, decided to convene the Budget session on March 7. Later, State Legislature Secretary V Narasimha Charyulu issued separate notifications for the commencement of Assembly and Council sessions. The number of working days will be finalised by the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) on the first day of the session.
Though it is for the first time the Budget session will be starting without the Governor’s address to the joint session of Telangana Legislature, there were several such instances in other states, sources said.“If the session is not prorogued, then there is no need for the Governor to address the joint session. It is the discretion of the Speaker to start the session when the House is not prorogued. Several states followed this convention as per the provisions of the Constitution,” sources explained.
For example, the 2020-21 Budget session of the West Bengal Assembly started without the Governor’s address. In 2020, the Budget session of the Puducherry started without the address of the then Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi. She skipped the address as the government did not send the Budget for her approval. In united Andhra Pradesh too, the session started without Governor’s address on two occasions — in 1970 and in 2014.
What the Constitution says
Article 176(1) of the Constitution of India enjoins that the Governor shall address both the Houses assembled together at the commencement of the first session after each general election to the Assembly and at the commencement of the first session of each year, and inform the Legislature of the causes of its summons
Not a new convention
Though it is for the first time the Budget session will be starting without the Governor’s address to the joint session of Telangana Legislature, several states followed this convention in the past as per the Constitutional provisions.