HYDERABAD, Aug 3: The Al-Khidmat group of councillors has condemned rowdyism in the budget session of the district council and said that the budget has been passed in an illegal manner.

In a joint statement issued here on Tuesday, Rana Mehmood Ali Khan, Shahnaz Baqai and other members of the group said that under the law, nothing except the budget could be discussed in the budget session.

They, however, said that as soon as the budget session began, a series of points of order was raised and permission was also granted on them. The councillors said that taking advantage of disorder and rumpus, a councillor repeatedly interrupted the budget speech of the district nazim and the situation became worst but the convener announced the approval of the budget.

Quoting article 111, sub-section 3 of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, they said that according to the mandatory provision of the law, the finance committee had to deliberate over the budget after its presentation in the session and offer its suggestions.

They added that the report of the finance committee was to be discussed in the session after which the budget was to be tabled for approval. The Al-Khidmat Group councillor recalled that when the budget of last year was presented, a discussion was held on it for eight days and it was approved after the inclusion of certain proposals.

They, however, regretted that a wrong precedent had been set during the presentation of the current year's budget. They said that many points of the budget needed clarification and quoted some instances to substantiate their view. They said that work on development schemes should be immediately started.