Raj Bhavan said referring Bills to law secretary was normal practice; it dismissed rumours that the TSRTC Bill had been sent to the President.
Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan delivers her speech at the beginning of the budget session of the state legislature on Friday, 3 February, 2023. (Supplied)
In yet another refusal to sign on the dotted line, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundarajan sent all the Bills passed by the Telangana State legislature recently, including the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (Absorption of Employees into the Government Service) Bill, to the law secretary for his opinion.
In a press communique on Thursday, 17 August, the Raj Bhavan, referring to the Telangana Government Business Rules and Secretariat Instructions, said that the Governor sending Bills to the law secretary was normal practice.
Furthermore, the Raj Bhavan said that the Governor had provided 10 recommendations based on representations she received and in the best interests of the employees and the well-being of the TSRTC while permitting the introduction of the Bill related to the corporation in the Assembly.
Similarly, four other Bills were earlier returned to the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council with messages containing certain recommendations.
The Bills were sent to the law secretary to ascertain whether these recommendations were properly taken care of in the Bills now received or not.
In this regard, Raj Bhavan said that it would like to clarify that based on the recommendations of the Law Secretary, further action on all Bills, including the TSRTC Bill, will be taken.
The press communique, the Raj Bhavan said, was issued to quell the misinformation that has been circulating in certain quarters, including the print and electronic media, claiming that the Governor has withheld the TSRTC Bill and decided to reserve it for the assent of the President of India, which is, in fact, false and far from the truth.
All members of the public in general and TSRTC employees, in particular, are urged not to be swayed by such false and baseless news spread by certain vested interests, the communique said.
Much drama has surrounded the TSRTC Bill which was a result of the Telangana Cabinet on 31 July deciding to take about 43,373 corporation employees on government rolls.
The BRS government sent the TSRTC Bill to the Governor on 2 August, seeking her approval to table it in the Assembly as it was a money bill.
Governor Soudararajan initially withheld approval, sparking protests by the TSRTC employees across the state, with those in Hyderabad staging a march to the Raj Bhavan, her official residence.
Soudararajan quickly assured union leaders that she would approve the Bill to take them on government rolls as soon as she received clarifications to questions she had raised on the proposed legislation.
Once she gave her assent, the Telangana Legislative Assembly, on Sunday, 6 August, unanimously passed the Bill, reportedly incorporating the 10 recommendations that Governor Soundarajan made to the draft when giving it her assent to be introduced in the House.
Now that the Bill is back with her for a final approval that will make it law, she has sought the law secretary’s opinion, creating disquiet in the ranks of TSRTC employees.
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