HYDERABAD: The Telangana State Government on Thursday filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking direction to Governor Tamilisai Sounderarajan to approve ten key bills of the State which were still pending with her.

The Writ of Mandamus filed by the Telangana Chief Secretary Shanthi Kumari is likely to be listed for hearing on Friday where the Governor was made as one of the respondents apart from the Secretary to the Governor. The BRS Government had decided to approach the Supreme Court after some of the bills which were kept pending for more than six months in the Raj Bhavan and were not being cleared by the Governor.

Sources in the government say that she was deliberately not approving them, some of which were important for the functioning of the state matters. Some of the pending bills were seeking amendments to several acts including the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act amendment bill, Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agriculture University Amendment Bill 2023, the Telangana Universities Act, etc. Some of the bills were related to Mulugu Municipality merging, changing the name of Kyathanapally to Ramakrishnapur, Azamabad Industrial area, and the creation of three major grampanchayats in Bhadrachalam and surrounding villages, among others pending since the month for September. The other two bills were appropriation bills. These bills were cleared and passed by both the Assembly and the Legislative Council and were sent to her office for approval and gazette notification.

The Telangana government headed by CM KCR and the Governor have been at loggerheads for quite some time now. It may be recollected that the BRS Government had moved the Telangana High Court in January requesting that it instruct Governor Tamilisai Soundarajan to approve the Budget introduction at once as she had not approved it despite the fact that the State government circulated the file to her office on January 21. However, respective counsels for the State government and Governor’s Office reached a compromise later in the day, prompting the court to dissolve the case.

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