Telangana State government passes two Bills without debate

Hyderabad: The Telangana Assembly on Saturday passed two bills-Telangana Municipalities Bill, 2019 and Telangana Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2019 without any discussion and in a matter of a few minutes on Saturday, as Congress members were not present in the House and hence did not use the opportunity to express their views on the bills.

The Telangana Municipalities Bill, 2019 was reintroduced in the Assembly after the earlier Governor ESL Narasimhan returned the file instructing the government to make some modifications.

Governor returned the file with the observation to examine the bill in relation to section 195 and ensure its compliance totally and fully with the provisions of Article 243-K and 243-Za of the Constitution of India detailing the duties and responsibilities of the State Election Commission.

As both Houses of the State Legislature were prorogued and not in session and as elections to local bodies were to be held, the government went for an Ordinance (the Telangana Municipalities Ordinance, 2019) has been promulgated by Governor on July 21, 2019. This bill seeks to replace the said Ordinance.

Stating the objectives of the Municipalities Bill, KTR said that the government decided to bring in the new Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019 repealing the earlier Acts to make administration in ULBs (Urban Local Bodies) more transparent, time-bound and accountable.

Touching on the Civil Courts Bill, Law Minister Indrakaran Reddy said that a decision was taken to amend section 5, 9, 16 and 17 of Telangana Civil Courts Act, 1972 suitably by undertaking legislation.

Due to enhancement of market value of the immovable properties both in villages and semi-urban areas and in view of prevalent less pecuniary jurisdiction of Junior Civil Judge's Courts, the poor litigant public had to approach either the Senior Civil Judge's Courts or District Courts, which has been causing great hardship to them apart from additional financial burden.