Iran's parliament speaker has left it up to the country's lawmakers to accept or reject a controversial amendment to the budget bill.

The parliament (Majlis) would send the amendment straight back to the Cabinet if lawmakers feel that they have not been given enough time to study and comment on the original budget submitted by the president, Ali Larijani said on Wednesday.

The Majlis response came after Tehran Principlist Representative Ahmad Tavakkoli criticized Larijani for accepting the amendment in the first place, the Etemad daily reported.

"Based on your responsibilities, you should not have accepted this amendment or announced that it had been officially received by the parliament because from a legal perspective there is no such thing as a 'bill amendment','' Tavakkoli had said.

"What has been defined in law is an amendment to a particular legislation, which in itself is a new bill," he explained.

Tavakkoli stressed that according to parliament regulations, lawmakers must be given adequate time to present their suggestions on the original budget plan.

Former two-time presidential candidate Ali Larijani, meanwhile, criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for submitting an amendment lengthier than the original bill.

Larijani believes "extensive and hasty" changes have been made to the budget bill that undermine its overall credibility. The changes reportedly include 63 new projects.

The government submitted the amendment after its budget bill came under attack by several parliamentarians who said that it lacked the necessary detail.

The dispute over next year's budget adds to already existing tension between the Ahmadinejad administration and the parliament, arising from the recent impeachment of a cabinet minister and disagreements over a 2006-2007 budget infraction.

MJ/JG/AA