The budget session of the newly constituted Punjab assembly would be held from June 19 to June 29.A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet presided over by chief minister Parkash Singh Badal here on Thursday.

This would be the first budget of the Parkash Singh Badal led SAD-BJP ministry which returned to power after the assembly elections in February this year.

The state had adopted a vote on account for the first three months of the current fiscal in March this year when the newly elected members of the 117-member state assembly were also sworn in.

The session would commence on June 19 in the afternoon with obituary references. Budget estimates for the year 2012-13 would be presented on June 20 and the general discussions on budget estimates would be held on June 22, 25 and 26.

In order to cut expenditure, the chief minister also directed the chief secretary to formulate an official vehicle policy within a month whereby the government vehicle could be replaced with the monthly transport allowance.

After the introduction of the policy the state government proposes to do away with providing official vehicles to its officers who would be provided monthly transport allowance.

The details would be made public after the finalisation of the policy, the spokesman said.

The cabinet also expressed profound grief and sorrow over the untimely demise of BJP MLA from Dasuya and chief parliamentary secretary Amarjit Singh Sahi who passed away last Sunday.