Governor approved 3 Bills, sent two to President, SC told

HYDERABAD: Telangana state’s petition against Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundarajan alleging that she was delaying the approval of 10 Bills at the Supreme Court saw Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta informing the court that the Governor had approved three Bills, referred two to the President for consideration and assent and that three more were under active consideration of the Governor.

The court, which posted the next hearing to April 24, said in its order that the Governor had given assent to the Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Telangana Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Professor Jayashankar Agricultural University (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

The two Bills referred to the President were the University of Forestry Telangana Bill, 2022, and the Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022.

The three Bills under active consideration were the Telangana Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill 2022, the Telangana Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the Telangana Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation) (Amendment) Bill 2022.

Apart from the eight Bills, Mehta informed the court that the state’s law department was yet to submit the Azamabad Industrial Area (Termination and Regulation of Leases) (Amendment) Bill 2022 to the Governor.

The Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud,  Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice Pardiwala, was hearing the Telangana government’s plea and sought response of the Union government in the petition.

Earlier, the apex court had not been inclined to issue notices to the Governor and asked the Solicitor General to get instructions. Following this,  Mehta placed the aid information before the court and said this was the latest information the Governor’s secretary.

Senior counsel Dushyant Dave, representing the Telangana government, was not available at the time of hearing. Dave’s junior counsel requested the court to allow the short pass over for senior counsel to appear. But, as Mehta was available on virtual hearing to furnish the details, the CJI Bench asked him to place the details.

The Bench enquired about the Bills, which were sent to the Governor last September for assent. The court questioned him about any other information he had received regarding the said Bills. However, Tushar Mehta replied that he could not say anything about them.

On the request of Telangana government’s counsel, the court adjourned the case to April 24.