The Supreme Court on Monday asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, to provide 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 government, represented by senior advocate Dushyant Dave, asked Mr. Mehta to report back to the apex court on April 10.
Mr. Dave pressed for an earlier date than April 10, possibly March 29, for Mr. Mehta to get the necessary information from the Governor.
“Several Bills passed by the Assembly are pending… We want to know why?” he asked the Bench.
The State has blamed the Governor for creating a “constitutional impasse” by refusing to act on several Bills passed by the legislature.
Mr. Dave had earlier submitted that the Bills were pending since September 14 last year, 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 said in its petition filed through advocate S. Udaya Kumar Sagar.
The State has urged the court 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 include 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, through the petition, has argued that the Governor may or may not give assent to a Bill. However, the decision should be taken, rather than keeping the Bills pending for months together.
“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 would not withhold assent once the Houses reiterate the amendments.
The State has trained the spotlight on how under Article 163 the Governor is 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 said.
