PANAJI
The delay in government formation process, including the swearing-in now slated for March 28, will force a breezy and truncated budget exercise in Goa, compelling the government led by Chief Minister-designate Pramod Sawant to resort to a vote-on-account before March 31.
The vote-on-account, expected to be for a quarter (three months), will have to be put through a vote of the Goa legislative assembly latest by March 31 to cover cash-flows and to keep the State’s Consolidated Fund Account operational to defray government expenditures.
With Sawant and his team scheduled to be sworn-in on March 28, sources in the Legislature Department said, the new government will have to move swiftly to recommend convening of the session by the Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai for the twin purposes of seeking a confidence vote as well as passing the money bill (vote-on-account) before March 31.
The piquant situation arising out of the delay in the government-formation process will also force a break from the convention where the Governor addresses the first session in any calendar year.
Meanwhile, a senior finance department official said the government’s resorting to a vote-on-account for a limited period instead of presenting a full-fledged budget for the whole financial year has been a trend in Goa for several years.
It allows the political executive to focus on judiciously allocating funds for expeditious execution of development works in the pre-monsoon months of April-May, the official said, adding that the detailed budget is then presented and deliberated by the legislature for the remainder of the financial year during the monsoon session in June.
