Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
The Supreme Court on March 14 agreed to urgently hear a petition filed by Telangana Government in opposition to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for making a “very prequent constitutional impasse” by refusing to act on a number of Bills handed by the State legislature.
Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud assured senior advocate Dushyant Dave, showing for the State, that the case could be listed subsequent week on March 20.
Mr. Dave submitted that the Bills have been pending since September 14, 2022, awaiting the assent of the Governor.
“In a parliamentary democracy, the Governor has no discretion to delay necessary assent as required on the Bills. Any refusal on the part of the Governor, including delay, will defeat parliamentary democracy and will of the people,” the State mentioned in its petition filed by way of advocate S. Udaya Kumar Sagar.
“Several Bills are stuck,” Mr. Dave identified throughout the mentioning of the case earlier than the CJI Bench for early itemizing.
The State urged the courtroom to “declare that the inaction, omission and failure to comply with the constitutional mandate qua the assent of the Bills by the Governor is highly irregular, illegal”.
The Bills pending the Governor’s assent for months embody the Azamabad Industrial Area (Termination and Regulation of Leases) (Amendment) Bill, 2022; The Telangana Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022; The Telangana Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation) (Amendment) Bill, 2022; The University of Forestry Telangana Bill, 2022; The Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022; The Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2022; The Telangana State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2022; The Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2023; and The Telangana Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
Mr. Dave, by way of the petition, has argued that the Governor might or might not give assent to a Bill. However, the choice ought to be taken, fairly than maintaining the Bills pending for months collectively.
“The Bill must be returned together with a message requesting the Houses to reconsider it or any provisions in it and rethink the desirability of introducing any such amendments,” the petition highlighted Article 200 of the Constitution. The Governor wouldn’t withhold assent as soon as the Houses reiterate the amendments.
The State educated the highlight on how underneath Article 163 the Governor isn’t “expected to act independently”.
“The Governor is required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion only on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister heading it,” the petition mentioned.
