Governors delaying Bills: Vinod Kumar asks for amendment to Article 200

He has urged Law Commission chairman Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi to recommend to the Centre to bring an amendment to the term “as soon as possible”.

Hyderabad: Expressing concern over Governors withholding assent to Bills passed by various State assemblies, Vice-Chairman of the Telangana State Planning board B Vinod Kumar has urged Law Commission chairman Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi to recommend to the Centre to bring an amendment to the term “as soon as possible” to Article 200 of the Constitution and fix a time period of 30 days to accord assent to Bills sent to Governors.

Vinod Kumar on Wednesday wrote a letter to Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi requesting him to recommend the Centre to amend Article 200 as the Governors were using it for withholding important Bills related to public cause. He pointed out that Article 200 does not lay down any time frame for the Governor to take action on granting assent to Bills, hence, they were taking advantage of it and sitting on the bill for months.

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Citing the example of Telangana, Vinod stated that Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill 2022 was submitted to Governor for her perusal a few months ago, but no action was taken so far. This bill, if cleared, would generate more than 1,000 jobs for Assistant Professors in Telangana. Moreover, it has been noticed that States ruled by BJP don’t have any such issues with Governors. It’s only the non-BJP-ruled States such as Telangana that have to bear the brunt of such delays, he informed.