Protesting against the proposed imposition of 5 per cent Value Added Tax on Compressed Natural Gas announced by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in the Delhi Budget 2012-13, the Bharatiya Janata Party members walked out of the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday.

As soon as Question Hour began, Leader of Opposition V. K. Malhotra raised the issue of an alleged “leak” of the Budget papers and charged that some television channels had shown Delhi Government officials reading from the document while the Chief Minister was still presenting it in the House.

2/3rd Plan Outlay Earmarked For Social Sector

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who also holds the Finance portfolio, announced the “people-friendly” budget for financial year 2012-13 on Monday.

Petrol car owners in Delhi will get some relief from the recent steep rise in petrol price after the state government decided not to levy value added tax on the price hike announced by the oil mark

Announcing the proposal, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said her government would incur a burden of nearly Rs.140 crore in revenue on this count. However, it would be more than covering up for this loss by imposing five per cent VAT on Compressed Natural Gas, on which the entire public transport in the city now runs. The move is expected to result in a hike in auto-rickshaw and taxi fares.

In her budget speech, Ms. Dikshit delved on how since the introduction of the VAT system in Delhi, CNG has always been exempted from its purview “though the same should be taxed @ 12.5 per cent as per the recommendations of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers.”

Petroleum minister S. Jaipal Reddy on Monday said that the government was not looking at dual pricing for diesel as it was not practical to be implemented.

New Delhi: Even as chief minister Sheila Dikshit hinted at marginal relief for Delhiites from the petrol price hike, environmentalists are not amused.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has been deputed by the Centre to ask all states to lower sales tax or value added tax on auto fuels and to shift to specific rates in order to work out a combined

Rising fuel costs coupled with a focus on emission control have resulted in more and more large sedans being powered by small engines that are being tweaked to deliver as much as their larger count

Amid widening price difference between petrol and diesel, the Finance Ministry is looking at the possibility of raising excise duty on diesel cars, a suggestion which was mooted long back by the Oil Ministry.

"Hiking excise duty on diesel cars is still on the agenda. It was not taken up during the Budget. It will take some time. It will happen," a Finance Ministry official said.