Thiruvananthapuram, March 11: Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly V.D.Satheesan on Friday said that the LDF-ruled state government has broken the tradition of tabling the Economic Review on the eve of budget presentation.
His comment came just before state Finance Minister K.N.Balagopal was to present the first full budget of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government.
“The economic review presents a bird’s eye view on the state’s fiscal and economic situation and is prepared by the State Planning Board. The practice is the economic review is the basis on which the budget is based and presented,” said Satheesan.
However, Speaker M.B.Rajesh pointed out that constitutionally it’s not mandatory and no time frame has been set out on the placing of the economic review, but by and large it’s placed before the house ahead of the budget.
“In our House till 1994, the economic review was being placed along with the budget. Today, the house is sitting after a gap of 14 days for the budget presentation. Wish to state that there is nothing wrong in what has happened. This time the economic review is being given to the members along with the budget papers and it will enable them to have a look into it and come fully prepared to take part in the discussion here starting from Monday. However, I do not wish this to be a precedent,” said Rajesh. (IANS)