TS Governor reacts to Cabinet decision to re-send bills, says did not send it back without valid reason

The Cabinet had found fault with the Governor for rejecting the bills passed by Legislature in a democratic manner and termed it a mockery of the public mandate

Hyderabad: A day after the State Cabinet decided to re-send three bills to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, stating that she was acting in a biased manner by returning bills passed by the Legislative Assembly, the Governor issued a statement on Tuesday claiming that she did not send back any bill without valid reason.

“I have clearly given my explanation about each and every bill. The explanation is sent to the Speaker for tabling in the Assembly so that it knows why I returned the bills. I have not returned any bill without a reason,” she said.

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The Cabinet had found fault with the Governor for rejecting the bills passed by Legislature in a democratic manner and termed it a mockery of the public mandate. The Cabinet then decided to once again pass the three bills in the Assembly session beginning on August 3. The three bills were related to Municipal Administration, Panchayat and Education. Once the Assembly passes these bills for a second time, the Governor will have to approve them no matter what is the opinion of the Governor, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao had said on Monday, adding that the government elected by the people was supreme.

The three bills which will be passed again by the Assembly were the Telangana State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Amendment Bill, the Telangana Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill and the Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill.

These were among 10 bills that were pending with Raj Bhavan in April. While seven bills were pending since September 2022, three bills were sent to the Governor in February for approval. With the State moving the Supreme Court on the inordinate delay, the Governor informed the Apex Court even as it took up hearing of the case, claiming that she had given her assent to three bills – the Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, Telangana Municipalities (Amendment Bill), and the Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University (Amendment) Bill. The Governor then sent the University of Forestry Telangana Bill and the Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill to the President of India for consideration and assent. The rest were returned to the government.