TRS wants 30 days for governor to accept bills passed by legislatures

TRS leader and former parliament member B Vinod Kumar pointed out that the Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill 2022 has been submitted to the state governor for her perusal a few months ago but unfortunately no action had been taken so far

Hyderabad

The TRS asked the Law Commission to recommend to the Centre to amend the Constitution for replacing the term “as soon as possible” with a term that’s more specific such as “within 30 days,” for the governors to give their consent for the bills. (HT Archives)

The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi asked the Law Commission to recommend to the Centre to amend the Constitution of India seeking to fix a specific period of 30 days for the governors to give consent to the bills passed by the state legislatures.

In a letter written to Law Commission chairman Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi on Tuesday, senior TRS leader and former parliament member B Vinod Kumar suggested that the Central government amend Article 200 of the Constitution, replacing the term “as soon as possible” with a term that’s more specific such as “within 30 days,” for the governors to give their consent for the bills.

He said there have been instances of the governors of various states resorting to deliberate delays in giving assent to bills passed by state legislatures. In the recent past, legislatures of some states like Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala enacted several important bills and sent them to governors for assent, he pointed out.

“According to Article 200 of the Constitution of India, the governor has the right to assent or reject a bill. Instead, the governors are not acting upon bills passed by the state assemblies and unduly delaying them due to lack of specific time frame. This attitude of the Constitutional heads of the states is causing irreparable loss to the people of the nation,” Kumar said.

He pointed out that the Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill 2022 has been submitted to the state governor for her perusal a few months ago but unfortunately no action had been taken so far.

“This bill, if cleared, will generate more than 1,000 jobs for Assistant Professors in Telangana. I am confident that many other states have tabled such bills that are lying at the apathy of their respective governors,” he said.

Stating that the term “as soon as possible” for the governors to give their assent to the bills was very vague and lacks a specific time frame, the TRS leader urged the Law Commission chairman to make Article 200 more accountable by studying these lapses and recommend the Central government to amend the Constitution.