In the midst of a dispute over the matter between the Centre and the city administration, sources in the lieutenant governor’s office claimed on Tuesday that the Ministry of Home Affairs had cleared the Delhi government’s budget and had sent it on to the AAP dispensation.
They also accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his ministers and the Aam Admi Party of “deliberately making false comments with the express goal of deceiving the people of Delhi and the media and diverting them from the failings of the AAP administration”.
He has claimed that a State’s budget has been obstructed by the Center. This is obviously untrue. As Delhi is a Union Territory and not a State, it is both a full and partial member of the Indian Government. The Budget hasn’t even been blocked, according to a source in the LG office.
The AAP has claimed that the Center has plotted to obstruct Delhi’s budget, and Kejriwal has even written to the prime minister pleading with him to do so.
The LG office source noted that the Constitution requires the President of India’s prior agreement and approval before placing the Delhi budget before the Legislative Assembly, and this has occurred every year for the last 28 years without fail.
“Fixing the date for the budget presentation before requesting the president’s permission for the budget is improper in and of itself and demonstrates the AAP government’s malice.
“After receiving the file from the LG secretariat on March 9, the chief minister was aware that the LG had approved the budget statement and made a few comments. Nevertheless, the source said that none of the issues identified by LG were addressed in any manner.
If a budget is not presented, the party has claimed that staff pay would be suspended.
In response to these accusations, the source said that individuals had been mislead by a media outlet into believing that Delhi government workers would not get their paychecks.
The insider said, “It should be noted that the present Financial Year expires on March 31, 2023, and every employee will get his wage whether or not the Budget is enacted.
Kailash Gahlot, the finance minister for Delhi, said earlier in the day that the budget file had been forwarded to the Federal home ministry for clearance.
According to a source, the MHA has cleared the budget and informed the Delhi administration of it.
Gahlot said that the material had been sent physically and electronically to the Ministry of Home Affairs for clearance.
The Tuesday announcement of the Delhi government’s 2023–24 budget was postponed due to disputes between the Arvind Kejriwal administration and the federal government over funding for several departments.
Sources in the MHA said the ministry had requested clarification from the AAP government as the chief minister attacked the centre due to the budget proposal’s huge allocations for advertising and comparatively limited money for infrastructure and other development programmes.