Budget sessIon lIkely to start from 31 january

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) on Tuesday recommended starting the budget session of Parliament from 31 January, official sources said here. The CCPA met Tuesday morning and decided that the first half of the budget session should be held from 31 January to 9 February. The recommendation will now be sent to President Pranab Mukherjee for his consent. Informed sources said the general budget is likely to be presented on 1 February, which would be a first. The budget so far has usually been presented at the end of February. In another first, the Railway Budget is likely to be merged with the General Budget this time. The Finance Ministry had constituted a five-member committee comprising senior officials of the ministry and the Indian Railways to work out the modalities for the merger. The Budget session so far has been divided in two halves. However, there was no information on the second half of the session. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has asked the state and Central governments to expedite the confirmation of residential address of Rubina Akthar, who has been in jail since 6 November 2012 along with her minor son when she was arrested at Kanachak in Jammu. She had crossed the border inadvertently and did not know the way to her home, according to her interrogation report.

Her lawyer Mir Shafqat Hussain told The Sunday Guardian that the High Court has described the case of Rubina and her minor son as a “glaring example of human tragedy”. The court in its fresh directions to the state and the Union governments has said that it was the duty