Telangana Assembly passes 4 Bills returned by Governor

  • August 6, 2023
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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Telangana Assembly passes 4 Bills returned by Governor

Subject :Polity

Section: Federalism

Context:

The Telangana Assembly, on Friday night, passed four Bills, which were earlier returned by Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan with queries and doubts.

What were the four Bills passed by the Telangana Legislative Assembly?

  1. Telangana Municipal Laws Amendment Bill, 2022 (increasing co-option members in municipal bodies)
  2. Telangana State Private Universities Establishment and Regulation Amendment Bill, 2022 (establishing five private universities)
  3. Telangana Public Employment Regulation of Age of Superannuation Amendment Bill, 2022 (rectifying an anomaly in medical teachers’ retirement age)
  4. Telangana Panchayat Raj Amendment Bill, 2023 (dividing certain Gram Panchayats)

What happened to the Bills after they were sent to the Governor for her assent?

  • The Governor returned the Bills with queries, but the Assembly passed them unchanged on August 4 after receiving messages from the Governor.
  • The Bills were passed by voice vote after the Speaker received messages from the Governor, following Article 175(2) of the Constitution.

What is Article 175(2) of the Constitution?

  • Article 175(2) of the Constitution of India deals with the power of the Governor to address the State Legislature.
  • According to this article:
    • “175(2): The Governor may send messages to the Legislative Assembly of the State with respect to a Bill then pending in the Legislature or otherwise, and a House to which any message is so sent shall with all convenient dispatch consider any matter required by the message to be taken into consideration.”

What are the Governor’s Powers over State Bills?

Article 200:

  • Article 200 of the Indian Constitution gives the Governor the authority to:
    • Assent to a Bill passed by the State Legislature.
    • Withhold assent from a Bill.
    • Reserve the Bill for the President’s consideration.

Article 201:

  • It states that when a Bill is reserved for the consideration of the President, the President may assent to or withhold assent from the Bill.
  • The President may also direct the Governor to return the Bill to the House or Houses of the Legislature of the State for reconsideration.

Options Available with the Governor:

  • He may give assent, or he can send it back to the Assembly requesting it to reconsider some provisions of the Bill, or the Bill itself.
  • He may reserve the bill for the consideration of the president. The reservation is obligatory where the bill passed by the state legislature endangers the position of the state high court.
  • However, the governor can also reserve the bill if it is of the following nature:
    • Against the provisions of the Constitution
    • Opposed to the DPSP
    • Against the larger interest of the country
    • Of grave national importance
    • Deals with compulsory acquisition of property under Article 31A of the Constitution.
  • Another option is to withhold the assent, but this is not normally done by any Governor because it would be an extremely unpopular action.
Polity Telangana Assembly passes 4 Bills returned by Governor