With Bills pending with guv piling up, Telangana knocks on SC's doors

Hyderabad, March 12: With Assembly elections in Telangana scheduled later this year and the delay on the part of Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan in clearing some Bills passed by the state legislature likely to create hurdles for governance, the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is looking to the Supreme Court to come to its rescue.

The BRS leaders are targeting the Governor for what they call running a parallel system, undermining the people's elected government.

The stalemate over the pending Bills and the petition filed by the BRS government last month in the Supreme Court has given an unprecedented turn to the rift between the government and the Governor.

The BRS had apparently hoped that with the truce reached last month during the budget session of the state legislature, Soundararajan will reciprocate by approving the Bills, some of which have been pending since September last year.

But with no positive response from the Raj Bhavan, the BRS decided to take the matter to the Supreme Court by filing a special leave petition (SLP).

The government pleaded with the apex court to direct the Governor to fulfil her constitutional obligation by giving assent to the 10 pending Bills.

The SLP mentions that seven of these Bills have been pending with the Raj Bhavan since September last year while the other three were sent to the Governor on February 13 after the budget session of the Assembly ended.

The petition pleaded the Supreme Court to declare the delay by the Governor as 'illegal', 'irregular' and 'unconstitutional'.

The SLP said: "The state of Telangana is constrained to move before this court under its extraordinary jurisdiction as conferred under Article 32 of the Constitution of India in view of a very frequent constitutional impasse created on account of the refusal of the Governor of the State of Telangana to act on several Bills passed by the state legislature. These Bills are pending since September 14, 2022, till date for the assent of the Governor."

The petition went on the say: "It is respectfully submitted that the Constitution cannot be kept static in the matter of legislative actions of the State and by reason of the Bills kept pending, without any legitimate reasons, results in chaotic situations, nothing short of creating lawlessness and in all sobriety, the Hon'ble Governor should have acted in discharge of the constitutional mandate of assenting to the Bills contemplated under the constitutional scheme.

"There is no justifiable reason to resort to any other step other than assenting to the Bills as all the Bills conform to the constitutional mandate as to the legislative competence or otherwise."

The state government mentioned the Samsher Singh Vs State of Punjab case where the top court had said that the Constitution did not envisage the provision of "a parallel administration by allowing the Governor to go against the advice of the Council of Ministers".

It also said that Article 200 does not confer any independent discretion on the Governor as is clear from the discussion of the Constituent Assembly.

The state government further argued that the matter assumes unprecedented significance and any further delay may lead to very unpleasant situations, ultimately affecting the governance and heavily inconveniencing the general public as a result.

The state Assembly had passed seven Bills during the session held on September 12 and 13. The Governor passed only the GST (Amendment) Bill.

The bills pending with the Raj Bhavan are -- Azamabad Industrial Area (Termination and Regulation of Leases) (Amendment) Bill, 2022; Telangana Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022; Telangana Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation) (Amendment) Bill, 2022; University of Forestry Telangana Bill, 2022; Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022; Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2022; Telangana State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2022; Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (Amendment) Bill, 2023; Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2023; and Telangana Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

With the municipal laws Bill pending, the government is worried over party leaders moving a no-confidence motion against the chairpersons of the civic bodies.

Legal experts said the state government can't do anything unless the Governor returns the Bills to it. If the Bills are returned, the state government has powers to send them again for approval which cannot be denied by the Governor.

As the SLP in the Supreme Court is filed in the name of Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, the Governor trained guns on her.

Soundararajan, who kicked up rows by participating in debates in television channels to target the BRS government, took to Twitter to hit out at the Chief Secretary.

"Dear Telangana CS Raj Bhavan is nearer than Delhi. Assuming office as CS you didn't find time to visit Raj Bhavan officially. No protocol! No courtesy even for courtesy call. Friendly official visits and interactions would have been more helpful which you Don't even intend," Soundararajan tweeted.

Santhi Kumari had assumed office as Chief Secretary on January 11 and the Governor pulled her up for not finding time to visit the Raj Bhavan officially.

However, the BRS leaders launched a counter attack and reminded the Governor that the Chief Secretary had visited the Raj Bhavan twice after assuming office.

The state government also countered the Governor's argument that it did not clarify her doubts on Bills. It informed the Supreme Court that Education Minister P. Sabitha Indra Reddy had met the Governor on November 10, 2022, and the Governor was apprised of the necessity of introducing the Bills and the urgency was explained.

On January 30, Legislative Affairs Minister S. Prashanth Reddy had met the Governor and fervently requested to consider granting assent to the Bills as the delays in the matter of assent seriously hurts the very objective of the pending Bills.

In November last year, the Governor had dismissed the allegations levelled by BRS that her office was sitting on some Bills forwarded by the state government for her assent. She had stated that she is taking time for assessing and analysing the Bills before giving her consent.

BRS is now hoping for a relief from the Supreme Court. Political observers say the ruling party may also look to draw political mileage from the delay in clearing the pending bills.

The ruling party leaders are targeting the Governor for 'acting like a BJP leader'. BRS sees the Governor's actions as part of the attempts by the BJP government at the Centre to create hurdles in the path of development of Telangana.

Irrespective of the Supreme Court's judgement, the BRS is likely to politically cash in on the situation by taking the issue to the public ahead of the polls scheduled towards the end of this year.