TEHRAN - A member of the parliament's presiding board announced on Tuesday that Majlis has received two “state decrees” by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei concerning the next year budget and the Agriculture Ministry which is now run by a caretaker minister.

Asadollah Abbasi said, "Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, in a letter to the Leader on Monday, requested his state decrees for two important issues. One of the speaker's requests was about implementation of Article 85 of the constitution over the next year budget and the other one was about the caretaker of Ministry of Agriculture." 

Iran’s next fiscal year starts on March 21. 

He said the Leader immediately agreed with the speaker's requests and accordingly the ratification by the Talfiaq Committee of the Majlis will be submitted to the Guardian Council for review. 

Talfiaq Committee is a body consisting of MPs from different committees which is established each year to study the national budget bill.

“The ratification will be announced to the government after the Guardian Council's confirmation and the government must implement the approval," Abbasi stated. 

"Larijani requested the Leader's administrative verdicts after the representatives of Majlis agreed on putting the next year's budget bill under the Article 85 to review the bill in the Talfiq Committee instead of an open session of the Majlis to avoid consequences of the coronavirus outbreak," he said.

COVID-2019 has hit at least 27 out of 30 provinces of the country, killing 77 till Tuesday morning time. The government has shut down universities, schools and all gatherings till sanitization of all public places. The parliament suspended any open session too. 

Some MPs have been diagnosed with the virus too.

According to the Leader's verdict, the Ministry of Agriculture will be headed by its caretaker till an open session of the Majlis decides about a new minister, Abbasi added. 

In December, President Rouhani submitted his administration’s proposed national budget bill for the next year to the parliament. While presenting the budget bill, Rouhani said the next year’s budget was intended to meet the purposes of resistance economy and countering the sanctions.

MJ/PA