Planning Board VC urges Centre to amend Article 200

Article 200 states that When a Bill has been passed by the Legislative Assembly of a State or, in the case of a State having a Legislative Council, has been passed by both Houses of the Legislature of the State, it shall be presented to the Governor and the Governor shall declare either that he/she assents to the Bill or that he with holds as sent there from or that here serves the Bill for the consideration of the President

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Planning Board Vice Chairman B Vinod Kumar on Wednesday urged the Union Law Commission to recommend the Government of India to amend Article 200 of the Constitution making it mandatory for the Governor to approve the Bills sent by the State governments within 30 days.

The Planning Board Vice Chairman wrote a letter to the Law Commission Chairman Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, alleging that the Governors in various states were deliberately delaying the approval to the bills sent by the State Assemblies. He said that the Legislative Assemblies of Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and others had enacted several important bills and sent the same to their State Governors for assent. "I am pained to note that the governors are unduly delaying to act upon the bills passed by the State Legislatures. This attitude of the Constitutional Head is causing irreparable loss to the people of the nation," said Vinod Kumar, questioning what was stopping the governors from exercising their powers to either accept or reject a bill?

Vinod said that the Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill 2022 was submitted to the Telangana Governor for perusal a few months ago but unfortunately no action was taken so far. This bill, if cleared, would generate more than 1,000 jobs for Assistant Professors in Telangana. I am confident that many other states have tabled such bills that were lying at the apathy of the irrespective Governors. Governors are not acting upon these bills as there is no specific time frame/ turnaround time for them to act upon bills passed by the State Legislatures. He urged the Chairman to make Article 200 more accountable by studying these lapses and recommend the Government of India to amend the constitution.

Article 200 states that When a Bill has been passed by the Legislative Assembly of a State or, in the case of a State having a Legislative Council, has been passed by both Houses of the Legislature of the State, it shall be presented to the Governor and the Governor shall declare either that he/she assents to the Bill or that he with holds as sent there from or that here serves the Bill for the consideration of the President.

He wanted the Chairman to remove the term "as soon as possible" stating that it was vague and lacked a specific time frame, and to change it to "Within 30 days". This change will bring a lot more accountability in the system at the highest level, he added.