The Budget session of the Telangana Assembly will begin with the customary Governor’s speech after a Constitutional crisis was averted and the stalemate between the state government and Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan over the approval of the state budget was resolved with some nudges from the high court which refused to be dragged into the matter.
The state government withdrew the lunch motion petition it had filed in the high court earlier on Monday seeking direction to the governor to approve the Budget and the case was dismissed.
The State Budget was slated to be placed before the Assembly on 3 February, the very first day of the session but now will be pushed back to 6 February or thereafter to accommodate the Governor’s address at the joint sitting of the Assembly and Legislative Council.
The state government filed the lunch motion petition after it didn’t receive the approval for the State Budget from Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan even though it was sent to her on 21 January. Instead her office had inquired about arrangements made for the Governor’s address on 3 February, the opening day of the session.
However, the government was of the opinion that there was no Constitutional clause for the governor to address the House at the beginning of the Budget session. But the Governor was required to give permission for presenting before the House the Budget under Article 202 of the Constitution to the annual financial statement.
While hearing the lunch motion petition the division bench headed by Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan wanted to know why the court was being dragged into a matter between the government and the governor. At the suggestion of the bench the two counsels, Dushyant Dave for the state government and Ashok Anand then held discussions and resolved the matter with the state government agreeing to begin the Budget session with the governor’s speech while Dr Soundararajan will give her approval to the State Budget.
However, this may not be the end of the bitter row that has escalated between the governor and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. BRS Parliamentary Party leader K Keshav Rao today said “The government had to take the help of the court to get the Budget approved.” and went on to add that they need to discuss the roles of governors in the Parliament. Admitting that Parliamentary rules do not allow discussion on governors straight away the RS MP of BRS said they would find a way to discuss about the federal structure.
Governor Dr Tamilisai Soudarajan was denied the opportunity to deliver the Governor’s address last year too with the Assembly Secretariat pointing out that the House was adjourned and not prorogued in the earlier session but she had approved the State Budget for 2022-2023. But this time when the government took the same ploy she held back the approval for the Budget. The BRS government is unhappy with the governor for sitting on eight bills since September.