Session to discuss border disputes and law and order
Al Ngullie
DIMAPUR, MARCH 13
THE fourth session of the 12th Nagaland Legislative Assembly will be ‘discussing’, and subsequently pass, the state’s all-important Vote-on-Accounts.
The legislative session is scheduled to commence from March 18, and will be concluding on the 24th, about two weeks to the state going for the Lok Sabha parliamentary elections. The Lok Sabha elections for the state are scheduled for April 9.
Highly-placed sources from the state government said, that the assembly will be discussing the Vote-on-Accounts and pass the interim budget. As a ‘protocol’, the source said on anonymity, details about the Vote-on-Accounts is not privy to anyone until it was tabled and passed.
It is expected to be tabled and discussed on March 18, a traditional date for the legislative assembly to pass the Vote-on-Account.
For citizens’ note, Vote-on-Account is a temporary budget arrangement dealing with state expenditure presented when government has no time to present full Budget, or when elections are around the corner. Interestingly, for the first time in the history of the Nagaland, a sitting chief minister of the state, Neiphiu Rio himself, is readying to contest the Lok Sabha Elections, against Congress opponent KV Pusa.
Vote-on-accounts is an interim arrangement where the house grants a vote on account to the government to meet necessary expenditure till budget proposals are cleared.
Chief Whip of the ruling Naga People’s Front party Khuzholuzho Neinu did not take calls made to him. The Chief Minister’s Office declined to comment as well, Wednesday. Only one NPF leader, Secretary General of the party, KG Kenye, offered independent confirmation to the reports about the Vote-on-Accounts being scheduled for the session.
Kenye confirmed Wednesday that the regional NPF party would be tabling the Vote-on-Accounts. “The session will be discussing the Vote-on-Accounts. It is a temporary arrangement before a full budget is presented,” he explained. He did not offer details on the contents of the budget. The session would focus primarily on the vote-on-Accounts, he said.
However, the legislative assembly will also be discussing several currently-urgent issues other than finance, it was disclosed. For instance, the assembly will be taking to the table the border dispute with Assam, and the law and order situation in the state. “Others (agendas) will be discussed during the session like law and order, the border issue (sic),” Kenye said.
The upcoming Vote-on-Accounts may be understood as one for the second quarter of 2013-2014. In March 2013, Neiphiu Rio, also the minister in-charge of Finance, presented the vote-on-account of Rs. 2913.43 crore for the first quarter. The first quarter was approximately one-third of the estimated expenditure for the entire financial year 2013-2014.
More on the system of Vote-on-Accounts: The system, which deals only with the expenditure side of the government’s budget, is normally valid for two months and is in operation till the full Budget is passed. During elections, it may be extended for a period of more than two months.
Also, in case when the government does not have enough time to vote for a full budget, a special provision is made to make sure that there is enough money at the disposal of the government to allow it to run the administration.
