Vote-On-Account To Be Placed In Odisha Assembly Today; Know How It Is Different From Interim Budget

Bhubaneswar: Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari will present the vote-on-account for the first four months (April-July) of the 2022-23 financial year, on Thursday.

The Appropriation Bill will be passed the following day.

According to sources, the Odisha government had prepared to present a full-fledged budget but decided to go with the vote-on-account in view of the imposition of a model code of conduct for panchayat polls and then for urban local body elections held on March 24.

The Council of Ministers on March 28 approved a budget of Rs 2 lakh crore for 2022-23 and the government is likely to seek the Assembly’s approval of Rs 60,000 crore to Rs 70,000 crore for the vote-on-account, the sources added.

The last vote-on-account was presented in 2019 because of the general elections and so also in 2009 and 2014. In 2019, the 4-month outlay was Rs 56821 crore.

The government had presented a budget of Rs 1.7 lakh crore for 2021-22.

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM INTERIM BUDGET

An interim budget is presented when there is no time to present the complete budget, generally when the elections are approaching, but it is presented for the whole year just like a regular budget and ideals with both receipts and expenditure.

On the other hand, a vote-on-account contains only the expenditure of the government and can be passed by the Lok Sabha without discussion. It can be passed through the interim budget but cannot change the direct taxes at any cost. It is like a grant in advance that the government needs to function till the time vote on a demand for grants and passing of Finance Bill and Appropriation Bill occurs.