The Supreme Court on Monday requested Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, showing for the Centre, to supply it with an “updated position” of the Bills pending with Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, on a request from the Telangana authorities, represented by senior advocate Dushyant Dave, requested Mr. Mehta to report again to the apex court docket on April 10.
Mr. Dave pressed for an earlier date than April 10, presumably March 29, for Mr. Mehta to get the mandatory data from the Governor.
“Several Bills passed by the Assembly are pending… We want to know why?” he requested the Bench.
The State has blamed the Governor for making a “constitutional impasse” by refusing to behave on a number of Bills handed by the legislature.
Mr. Dave had earlier submitted that the Bills had been pending since September 14 final yr, awaiting the assent of the Governor.
‘Will defeat democracy’
“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 has mentioned in its petition filed by way of advocate S. Udaya Kumar Sagar.
The State has urged the court docket 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 needs to be taken, somewhat 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 has educated the highlight on how underneath Article 163 the Governor is just not “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 has mentioned.
