Telangana Governor clears three bills, seven still pending

This is more than a month after the State government filed a writ petition in Supreme Court on March 2 seeking directions to the Governor to clear the bills

Hyderabad: Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Monday cleared three out of 10 Assembly Bills that were pending with her for a long time.

This is more than a month after the State government filed a writ petition in Supreme Court on March 2 seeking directions to the Governor to clear the bills. Incidentally, the Supreme Court took up the matter for hearing on Monday and again listed it after two weeks.

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Soundararajan is learned to have cleared the Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (Amendment) Bill and Telangana Municipalities (Amendment) Bill. While the Motor Vehicles Taxation bill was pending since September 2022, the other two bills were pending since February this year. However, among the 10 Bills, seven crucial ones are still pending. Among these, the Governor has sought clarifications on two bills – The Azamabad Industrial Area (Termination and Regulation of Leases) (Amendment) Bill and The Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill – from the State government while two other bills – The University of Forestry, Telangana Bill, 2022 and Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022 – were reserved for the President’s assent.

Interestingly, the Governor, who has been keeping the Bills with her since September last, approved the three Bills the same day as the Supreme Court hearing was slated on the State government’s petition.

Earlier, despite repeated appeals by the State Government to clear the Bills, the Governor had kept them pending citing different reasons. The State had been arguing that if the Governor had any doubts on the Bills, she could seek clarifications on the same but appealed her not to sit on them for long.

In November last, the Governor denied charges that Raj Bhavan was sitting on some Bills sent by the State government for her assent and said she was taking time for assessing and analyzing the Bills before giving her consent.

In fact, Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy along with a team of officials had met the Governor on November 10 at Raj Bhavan. The Minister cleared the clarifications raised by the Governor on Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022. However, the bill is yet to be cleared.