Governor wins second round of battle against TS govt in less than a week
Hyderabad: Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan has won the second round of battle against the state government in less than a week. First, it was on the issue of the Telangana state government not holding the Republic Day celebrations and police parade last week. This time, it was on the issue of the state government doing away with the customary Governor's address to the joint session of Legislature for the Budget session set to begin on February 3. On both these occasions, the state government suffered setbacks in the High Court and had to reverse its decisions.
The Governor had written to the state government to clarify its decision on holding the Republic Day celebrations and the police parade that were stopped in 2021 and 2022. However, due to the ongoing tussle between the Governor and the state government for the last two years on several issues, the government did not respond to the Governor’s letter and kept the issue pending. However, it later responded informing the Governor that it had no plans to hold the Republic Day fete as well as the police parade citing the Covid-19 pandemic.
Finally, the matter reached the High Court when a petition was filed by K. Srinivas, a city resident, who contended that the BRS government was not following the conventions and protocols by not holding the Republic Day Celebrations at Parade Ground in Secunderabad.
Hearing the arguments, the High Court found fault with the state
government's decision and issued an interim order on January 25 directing the Telangana state government to conduct the Republic Day Celebrations, including the Parade, by following union ministry guidelines.
With regard to the Budget session from February 3, the Governor's office wrote to the state government on January 22 to clarify whether arrangements had been made for the Governor's customary address in the Assembly. If so, a copy of the Governor's speech was sought for verification. However, there was no response from the state government. The state government had commenced the Budget session without the Governor's address in 2022 and decided to continue the same this year too by not proroguing the House.
To avoid Governor's address, the state government has been convening the Assembly sessions since September 2021 as continuation of previous sessions.
If the Assembly is prorogued, the subsequent session will be treated as a new session and as per norms, the new session of Assembly in the new year should begin with the Governor's address.
The Governor too kept her approval pending for Budget presentation in the Assembly to the request sent by the state government on January 21. As the February 3 deadline for the Budget session neared, the state government approached the High Court seeking a direction to the Governor to approve the Budget presentation.
Following the High Court’s intervention, the state government agreed to have the Governor's address in the Budget session and the issue got resolved.
Had the government responded to the Governor's letter on January 22 and agreed to have the Governor's address, the issue would not have reached the court. The state government could have avoided an embarrassing situation on both these occasions.
