SC refuses urgent hearing to plea seeking to postpone budget
The Supreme Court has refused to give an urgent hearing to a plea seeking that the Budget be presented in March and said it will hear the matter in "the due course of time". Earlier, opposition parties like Congress and Trinamool, among others demanded the budget be presented after the polling for the upcoming state Assembly elections ends.
The Supreme Court today refused to give an urgent hearing into a plea seeking that the Budget be presented after March. Opposition parties demanding Budget dates to be postponed in view of Assembly elections in five states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur.A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar said, "will hear the matter in due course of time, but not now."On Thursday (January 5), a delegation of Opposition parties led by the Congress approached the Election Commission demanding Budget to be presented after state elections get over. The government has announced that the Budget will be tabled on February 1 while polls while Assembly polls will begin from February 4. 'PRESENT  BUDGET AFTER MARCH' "We have a simple solution. Present the budget after March 8 and get it passed before March 31, there's plenty of time," Trinamool Congress's Derek O'Brien said. Polls will get over in all the five states by March 8 and counting will take place on March 11. "We demand that budget be presented after March 8, which is when polling in states will be over," Azad told reporters outside the Election Commission office in New Delhi.Congress leader Anand Sharma said the presentation of the budget prior to the polls will vitiate the free and fair polls."It is the mandate of the EC to ensure that no situation arises that may vitiate the free and fair polls. We have already informed President Pranab Mukherjee about the issue," Sharma said.THIS IS A NON-ISSUE: BJPThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, said it was a non-issue and slammed the opposition for politicising the government's constitutional duty."The budget is a constitutional duty of the government and not related to any one state. The presentation of the budget is not a sudden decision rather it has been decided beforehand with prior information to the stakeholders," Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said. WATCH: Budget row: Opposition meets Election Commission, demands budget after March 8ALSO READ: