Budget unlikely to be sent to parliamentary committees

NEW DELHI: Racing against time, Parliament is likely to seek passage of the first general budget of Narendra Modi government in the next session beginning July 7 without sending it to the Standing Committees.

This is because there is hardly any time for the exercise as the vote-on-account budget approved by the previous parliament ends on July 31 and a new budget has to be in place before that date.

Generally, the budget session is of three-month's duration which has a recess of three weeks for the Parliamentary Standing Committees to scrutinise the demands for grants of various ministries and departments.

Parliment sources said a relevant rule will be suspended to ensure passage of the general budget without discussion in the standing committees.

Due to Lok Sabha elections, this time the budget session is starting late and has hardly any time to refer the budget, which will be presented on July 10, to the Standing Committees which are yet to be constituted.

The over month-long session will have a total of 28 sittings.