Delhi Finance Minister Atishi informed the Delhi Legislative Assembly on Thursday that the preparation for the city’s annual budget had longer than expected leading to delays in its finalisation.

Hence, the date for the presentation of Delhi’s budget in the House has not been decided as yet.

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Talking to mediapersons on the delay in presentation of the budget, Atishi said the process of making the budget was delayed due to some unforeseen reasons. “It was placed before the Council of Ministers three days ago, sent to Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena two days ago, approved by the Delhi Lieutenant last night, and today it will be sent to MHA for Presidential Assent,” she said.

“The MHA asks for a minimum of 10 days’ time. So, it will be difficult to table it in the legislative assembly before February 25. Therefore, a proposal to extend the budget session till the first week of March was passed in the assembly,” the finance minister said.

The budget session of the Delhi Assembly was commenced on Thursday.

During the session, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal proposed the election of financial committees with the permission of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Ram Niwas Goel. It was passed by a voice vote.

Atishi said, “We received Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena’s approval on February 14. Earlier the budget was passed by the cabinet on February 11, and on February 13 it was sent to the LG for his assent. There has been no delay from LG’s side. Today the budget will be sent to the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs),” she added.

“It takes approximately 10-15 days for the budget’s final approval and presidential assent. I estimate that the budget won’t be presented before February 25, it is possible that the budget will be presented after February 25,” the finance minister said.

Hence, she requested the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly to extend the budget session until the first week of March. Because after the budget presentation, there will also be some discussion in the House for a few days. “I hope that the Delhi budget will be presented either in the last week of February or in the first week of March,” she added.