JAMMU, Jan 30: The inaugural budget session of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, following the revocation of Article 370, is set to commence on March 3, 2025.
This 21-day session will begin with the traditional address from Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
Officials have confirmed, “the first budget session of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly since August 5, 2019, will kick off on March 3, 2025, marking the first time in six years that the annual budget for Jammu and Kashmir will be introduced.”
It is important to note that the last budget from the former state of Jammu and Kashmir was delivered in 2018.
On October 31, following the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act enacted on August 5, 2019, the region was divided into two Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The first assembly in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir was established last year, marked by the peaceful and successful conduct of assembly elections.
Officials noted, “Typically, Union Territories have shorter budget sessions compared to states, and presently, Jammu and Kashmir has only six ministers, including the chief minister, with three positions in the council of ministers still vacant.”
The allocation of time for government proceedings, which will encompass discussions on the motion of thanks for the Governor’s address, the budget debates, and resolutions and bills from private members, will be determined by the Assembly’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC), they added.
The initial session of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly took place in November last year in Srinagar, with the second assembly and the first budget session set to commence on March 3 in Jammu.
Notably, during the state cabinet meeting on January 20, 2025, chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, a proposal was approved to initiate the budget session on March 3, 2025, which was subsequently submitted to the Lieutenant Governor for final consent; official reports indicate that the approval has been granted.
“Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Abdul Rahim Rather, will soon convene a meeting of the Assembly’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) to finalize the session’s duration and agenda,” stated an official.
He added that the date for Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to present the budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 will be established during this meeting.
The last budget of Rs 80,313 crore for the 2018-19 fiscal year was presented by then Finance Minister Dr. Haseeb Drabu on January 11, 2018.
In June 2018, the PDP-BJP coalition government, led by Mehbooba Mufti, collapsed following the BJP’s withdrawal of support, leading to the assembly’s dissolution in November 2018.
The then State Administrative Council (SAC), led by Governor Satya Pal Malik, approved a budget of Rs 88,911 crore for 2019-2020 on December 15, 2018.
Subsequently, the budgets for the Union Territory from 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25 were presented and passed by Parliament in the absence of a Legislative Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Union Territory’s budget of Rs 1,18,728 crore for the current financial year 2024-25 was introduced in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23, 2024.
The budget for Jammu and Kashmir for 2023-24 was also Rs 1,18,500 crore.
