HYDERABAD: Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has enacted three Bills but returned two others to the state government after the Telangana government petitioned the Supreme Court for guidance on how to proceed with the remaining bills.
The Governor has also forwarded two Bills to the President Droupadi Murmu for her assent and kept three others with her.
It was unclear which bills the governor approved, which ones she returned to the government, and which ones she delivered to Rashtrapati Bhavan.
According to reports, the government has approved bills for Telangana Women's University, Jayashankar Agricultural University Amendment Bill, and Telangana Forest University. Both the Telangana Motor Vehicle Tax Amendment Bill and the Azamabad Industrial Area Amendment Bill are said to have been sent to the president by her. She made her ruling on the day the Supreme Court was scheduled to resume hearing the petition of the state administration.
The state government informed the Supreme Court in a writ petition that 10 bills are still languishing at Raj Bhavan.
Three bills were sent to the governor for her approval in February, out of the seven that had been pending since September 2022. The petition pleaded the Supreme Court to declare as illegal, irregular and unconstitutional the delay by the governor.
The state government stated in the Special Leave Petition that the Governor "must unavoidably pass the bills in accordance with the mandate of the Constitution and any failure to confer assent would result in lawlessness" (SLP).
The state contended that the governor could ask for clarifications if she had any questions about the bills, but she could not refuse to sign them.
"If she brings up any questions, we will address them. She cannot sit on them, and the Constitution's directives in this regard are unmistakably in the state's favour "the government contended.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has petitioned the Supreme Court twice in opposition to the Governor.
The state administration filed a petition with the Telangana High Court in February asking for the Governor's permission to approve the state budget for 2023–2024. But the court had advised a peaceful resolution between the parties.
Raj Bhavan and the state government's legal teams reached a settlement. While the government concurred that the Governor's address should open the Legislature's Budget session, the governor then stood to approve the budget.
The Governor refuted BRS's accusations that her administration was holding up some bills that the state government had submitted for her approval in November 2022. She said that before approving the bills, she needs time to evaluate and consider them.
Following that, the Governor and Education Minister P. Sabitha Indra Reddy met to discuss her concerns with the Common Recruitment Board Bill.
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