Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundarrajan on Saturday found fault with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government for not following the Constitutional convention of doing away with the Governor’s address while commencing the budget session of the state legislature.
The Governor’s reaction came a week after the state government announced its decision on the commencement of the budget session from Monday, without the customary Governor’s address.
In a statement, Tamilisai said it was unfortunate that the state government had quoted technical reasons in avoiding the Governor’s address, saying that it was not a new session of the year, but was only a continuation of the earlier session.
Pointing out that the state legislature was meeting after a period of five months, she said under normal circumstances, when the House was convened after such a long interval, it would be called a new session. “Despite the long recess, the government has chosen to continue the earlier session and do away with customary Governor’s address by citing technical reasons,” she said.
Tamilisai reminded that the Governor’s address was not an address made by the office of the Governor but was a statement of the government in office. “It is a report card of the activities and achievements of the government during the previous year and the policy indicators for the ensuing year. It also provides the occasion for the members to hold meaningful discussion on the floor of the house about the administration and debate matters mentioned in the address,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Tamilisai reminded that the Governor’s address was not an address made by the office of the Governor but was a statement of the government in office. “It is a report card of the activities and achievements of the government during the previous year and the policy indicators for the ensuing year. It also provides the occasion for the members to hold meaningful discussion on the floor of the house about the administration and debate matters mentioned in the address,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Stating that the Governor’s address is an important instrument in upholding the democratic principles of making the government responsible to the elected members, Tamilisai said the Governor’s role was limited to being a catalyst to the democratic ideals enshrined in the Constitution.
“By not holding the Governor’s address in this budget session, the members now stand to lose out on the opportunity to discuss the previous year performance of the government,” she said.
She recalled that the state government, while seeking her recommendation for introduction of the Financial Bill had mentioned that the session would commence with the Governor’s address. “Unfortunately, on clarification, it was stated that it was inadvertently mentioned. It is ironic that the note following democratic convention was stated as inadvertent,” she said.
The Governor, however, said she was respecting the Constitutional convention and going beyond political considerations. “Keeping up with the spirit of Co-operative Federalism, I have conveyed my recommendation for introduction of the Financial Bill. Though I had the liberty to take my time to give my recommendation, I gave my recommendation without any time lag, since it involved the people’s welfare,” she said.