Finance Ministry officials, who are busy giving final touches to the budget, say that a new budget is almost ready and the ministry is in a position to bring in a full-fledged budget if a new government is formed by the first week of July. [break]
But the big question is what if a new government is not formed by the end of the current fiscal year, that is, by July 16. Since the present government is already a caretaker government, it is not constitutionally in a position to bring a full-fledged budget.
If the political parties fail to form a new government by the end of the current fiscal year, the present government, as per Article 96 (A), will table a special bill in parliament before the fiscal year ends, seeking authority to incur expenditures of up to one-third of the total expenditure of the current fiscal year.
In that situation, the interim government will only bring in an expenditure proposal, limiting the total expenditure to 33 percent of actual expenditure during the current fiscal year. However, such expenditure is adjusted into the full-fledged budget that a new government will announce.
Similarly, the interim government will also have authority to mobilize revenues as per the Finance Act of the current fiscal year, though it will not be in a position to bring changes in the present tax structure or introduce new taxes.
Then finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat announced a similar budget in 2008/09 when the government led by the late Girija Prasad Koirla became a caretaker government immediately after the Constituent Assembly election.
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