VIJAYAWADA: A day after the in-charge Secretary of AP Legislature sent back the file related to select committee to the AP Legislative Council Chairman’s office informing that the panel cannot be constituted to deal with the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of all Regions Bill 2020 and Repealing the APCRDA Act Bill as “due procedures were not followed while referring the two bills to the committee”, sources close to the Chairman said he is exploring all options for setting up the panel.
“The Chairman had referred the two bills to Select Committee and he is looking for the way forward in that direction,’’ sources close to Chairman MA Shariff told TNIE.
Stating that there was no logic behind the argument of the YSRC leaders that announcement made by the Chairman referring the bills to the Select Committee became invalid as they were not formed within 14 days, the sources said the Chairman has every right to form the panel to review the bills.
At the same time, ruling YSRC leaders asserted that the Select Committee was not valid anymore as it was not formed within 14 days of the announcement by the Chairman and both the bills should be considered as passed.
“The Council has three options — approving, rejecting or referring bills to the Select Committee. In this case, the Council neither approved nor rejected the bills. As the issue of constituting the Select Committee is not valid, the bills should be considered as passed,” said Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) and Leader of the Council Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose.He further said that the Council Chairman went against the rules of the House in the name of discretionary powers and sent the bills to the Select Committee.
“TDP members are making false accusations against the government that we are influencing Assembly Secretary, but that is not the case. It is Chandrababu Naidu, who went against the rules and influenced the Council Chairman to use the latter’s discretionary powers. In the Council, if there is anyone who went against the rules, then it was the TDP,” the minister alleged.
YSRC Chief Whip in the Council Ummareddy Venkateswarlu said that the TDP members had violated the rules. “No motion was moved raising objections while considering the bills and the Chairman announced referring the two bills to the Select Committee without taking up voting in the House. The Chairman himself admitted that he was making a mistake,’’ he said.
While the YSRC leaders argued that the Chairman has no right to use his discretionary powers to refer bills to the Select Committee, the TDP leaders defended the action of the Chairman and insisted the Legislature Secretary has no right to ignore the directions of the Chairman.
TDP MLC P Ashok Babu said that there was no rationale behind the claim of the YSRC leaders that there are no chances for the constitution of the Select Committee on the grounds that 14 days have already completed after the Chairman’s announcement. He said that the 14 days theory will not apply as the bills were brought to the Council as general bills and not as money bills.
While the deadlock continues over the Select Committee, the Budget Session of the AP Legislature, which is expected to commence on March 7, is likely to be a stormy one.
Bone of contention
Both YSRC and TDP stick to their guns
YSRC argument
The Select Committee was not valid anymore as it was not formed within 14 days of the announcement by the Chairman and both the bills should be considered as passed
Council Chairman went against the rules of the House in the name of discretionary powers and sent the bills to the Select Committee
What TDP says
Legislature Secretary has no right to ignore the directions of Council Chairman
No rationale behind the claim of the YSRC leaders citing 14 days norm
14 days theory will not apply as the bills have been sent to the Council as general bills, not as money bills