There is only one thing certain about the winter session of the UP legislature - uncertainty. The UP government may not convene the winter session of the legislature after all. The possibility has been fuelled by the Finance department which has made it clear that it does not need supplementary grants in the present fiscal.
“The Government has enough money to run the ongoing projects. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav does not want to launch new schemes this fiscal. So the state does not need extra funds. In this scenario, it is almost sure that there would not be any supplementary grant,” a senior official told The Pioneer in lucknow on Wednesday.
In October, Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan had sent a circular to the Heads of different departments to send their request for supplementary grants to the Finance department. The Finance department was informed accordingly and the same information was passed on to the government.
The official said that budgetary allocations for the ongoing projects have been made and there was no need for additional funding.
Now the million dollar question is will the Government convene the winter session when it does not need supplementary grants. The decision regarding this will be taken in the cabinet meeting slated for December 1.
“Technically, the UP government should convene the winter session though constitutionally it is not bound. The monsoon session of the state legislature ended on August 26 and the next session should be convebed within six months. Going by that calculation, the Government is in no hurry to call the winter session,” an Vidhan Sabha official said.
The official opined that the Chief Minister may still take a call on the issue if the government has some legislative business and needs some bills to be passed in the House. “Once the state cabinet takes a decision it will take 14 days to convene the House. This is legal compulsion,” he explained.and added that there was no information from the government about convening the winter session so far.