Telangana Assembly clears many Bills

​Hyderabad: The Assembly on Wednesday passed several Bills which included amendment to VAT which would result in increase in the rates of liquor, to establish Police Commissionerate in Khammam town and to transfer all the cases from the AP Administrative Tribunal to the High Court.

During the debate on the Bill, members of the Opposition wanted the government to take action to establish separate High Court for Telangana. They said a tribunal should be constituted to deal with cases of service matters. The Assembly also passed a Bill to repeal the Acts which did not have relation to the State.

Later, participating in a discussion on amendment to the BC Commission Act, the Opposition members demanded that the government provide more powers to the Commission of the State. TDP MLA R Krishnaiah said the BC Commission had become toothless as its powers were limited.

BCs, who face social boycott and other problems, were unable to get justice. The government had removed 26 castes from the BCs list without examination.

The Commission was unable to do justice to the BCs when the government did not follow the reservations in job recruitments, he said.

BJP legislator K Laxman said there was no change in the living conditions of the BCs even two years after the formation of Telangana State. Though there were 112 castes in the BCs, 90 per cent of them did not have representation in the Assembly.

He made it clear that the chairman of the BC Commission should have a legal background to deal with the situations arising out of the criminal cases. BC Welfare Minister Jogu Ramanna said the amendment had been brought after taking all the issues into consideration.