Telangana drafts ordinance to amend SC, ST Sub-Plan Act
The Finance department had taken the opinion of the Law department which suggested amending the Act to suit the new Budget format.
Hyderabad: The TS government plans to promulgate an ordinance amending the existing SC Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan Act. Officials are busy preparing the draft Bill for approval of the state Cabinet.
According to sources, amending the SC&ST Sub-Plan Act has become necessary in view of the Centre’s decision to do away with the earlier practice of classifying expenditure as Plan and Non Plan. From now on, there won’t be any Plan and Non Plan expenditure in the Budget. Any Sub-Plan becomes redundant.
The Finance department had taken the opinion of the Law department which suggested amending the Act to suit the new Budget format. Officials said that after getting Cabinet approval, the government will promulgate the Ordinance.
The present system specifically earmarks a percentage of the annual plan expenditure for SC and Tribal Sub-Plans, based on the stipulations contained in the related legislation.
In the changed scenario, even though the annual plan does not exist and there is no segregation of expenditure between Plan and Non Plan, there is a necessity to maintain the existing practice of making specific allocations for SC and ST development to meet the Legislative obligation.
The Central government, in its guidance note, said that the allocation to SC & ST components should not be lower than the level provisioned in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 Budgets.