Assembly passes Vote-on-Account without debate

The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Wednesday passed the Vote-on-Account Budget for 2014-15 without having any debate.

Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy moved the motion seeking Assembly's nod for the Vote-on-Account and Speaker Nadendla Manohar passed the same with a voice-vote. "The government be granted a sum not exceeding Rs 79469,83,13,000/- in advance in respect of the essential expenditure for a part of the financial years 2014-15 as per the Heads of Demands show in the notice dated 10th February, 2014," he requested and the same was approved by the House.

Although the House was scheduled to have a brief discussion followed by the Finance Minister's reply on the Vote-on-Account, it could not be debated due to the uproar created by the opposition parties.

As soon as the House met at 10 AM on Wednesday, the opposition members including TRS, MIM and a few TDP legislators rushed to the Speaker's podium demanding discussion on their demands. Earlier, four adjournment notices were separately served by YSRCP leader Vijayamma, MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, G Mallesh (CPI) and J Ranga Reddy (CPM).

Vijayamma gave the notice seeking debate on how the Vote-on-Account budget was tabled in the House without having the approval of State cabinet. While the MIM wanted debate on the ongoing strike by the GHMC; Ranga Reddy demanded that the House discuss the strike by municipal contract employees and Mallesh asked for discussion the problems of labourers in the State.

The Speaker disallowed all the adjournment motions triggering protest by the opposition members. Following uproar, the Speaker adjourned the House at about 10.05 AM for one hour. Similar scenes were witnessed when the House met again at about 11.45 AM. Amid slogan shouting, the Speaker asked the Finance Minister to seek approval for Vote-on-Account and subsequently, it was passed.  The Speaker then adjourned the House till Thursday.

The supplementary estimates for 2013-14 were also tabled in the House and are likely to be passed on Thursday. The Assembly also passed Andhra Pradesh Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill, 2013.