Government spending will be stopped from Wednesday due to delay in passing replacement bill.
The then finance minister Bishnu Paudel had brought the budget through an ordinance on May 29 after the then prime minister KP Sharma Oli dissolved the house for the second time just a week earlier.
The House meeting was convened on July 18 after the Supreme Court (SC) reinstated the House on July 12.
The bill to replace the budget brought through ordinance needs to be passed within 60 days of start of the next House session. The Sher Bahadur Deuba government has brought a new budget through the replacement bill in the intervening period.
The 60-day deadline expires on Wednesday but the bill has yet to be passed while the next House meeting is scheduled for Monday
The House passed the motion for deliberation on Appropriation Bill on Monday giving consent in principle to the budget brought in accordance to the replacement bill but the replacement bill itself has not been passed.
Finance Minister Janardan Sharma said the government can collect tax even though government spending has been stopped due to delay in passing the bill. Talking with reporters after the House meeting on Tuesday, he assured that stopping government spending for a few days will not have a big impact.
Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (LSP) lawmaker Laxman Lal Karna, also speaking after the meeting, said there has been practice of continuing spending by bringing advance bill when the budget is not passed.
Such advance bill should not exceed one-third of the amount allocated by the budget for expenditure. But Minister Sharma has already ruled out bringing such advance bill.
Government spending may have to be stopped for at least two weeks now as the budget gets legal status only after the president authenticates the replacement bill, according to Secretary at the House of Representatives (HoR) Gopal Nath Yogi.
PM Deuba took the situation lightly quipping 'it will be incurred as it has been earlier' when he was asked by reporters how expenditure will be incurred when replacement bill has not been passed.
Remuneration of senior government officials will not be stopped even if the budget is not passed. The important bodies and officials of the government will be paid through the reserve fund where the government income is deposited.
President, vice-president, Supreme Court (SC) justices including the chief justice, chiefs of constitutional bodies, House deputy/speaker, National Assembly vice/chair, provincial governors and speakers will be paid through the reserve fund.
But remuneration of PM, ministers and government staffers can be stopped for some time. Similarly, the budget allocated for projects by the government and related works can also be stopped.
The news report ahs been updated after it was first published.
