HYDERABAD: Governor ESL Narasimhan has given his consent for the Municipalities Ordinance, 2019 and accordingly the new Act came into existence from Tuesday. However, there were several twists and turns after both Assembly and Council passed the Bill on Friday till the Act came into existence finally on Tuesday in the form of an Ordinance.
“The Municipalities Act, 2019 was promulgated on Tuesday,” Municipal Administration Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar told Express. However, the Bill which was approved by the Legislature did not become an Act. Instead, the government had to issue an Ordinance afresh as the Bill adopted by the Legislature was not approved by the Governor, who raised objections over certain clauses of the Bill.
After the Legislature approved the Bill on Friday and sent it to the Governor for his assent, Narasimhan raised some objections over one clause, which vested the powers to the State government to fix the election date of 128 Municipalities and 12 Corporations.
The Governor wanted to modify this clause to allow the Telangana Election Commission to fix the election date like in the past, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of India. When the Governor did not give his consent to the Bill and wanted changes in it, normally both Houses of Legislature again pass the Bill afresh, as suggested by the Governor.
This prompted the State government to press the panic button and decided to bring an Ordinance, without referring the Bill back to the Legislature. To overcome this difficulty, the State government, first, sent a request to the Governor to prorogue the Assembly and Council, which were adjourned sine die, for issuing the Ordinance afresh.
It may be mentioned here, no Ordinance can be issued without prorogation of both Houses of Legislature.
Then, the State government officials, including Chief Secretary SK Joshi, Municipal Administration Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar and Law Secretary V Niranjan Rao had a daylong marathon meeting on Sunday at Secretariat. They amended the clause as per the suggestions of the Governor.
Then, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao obtained consent from the Council of Ministers for the amended clause through the circulation of a file. Later, the amended Bill was sent to the Governor, who finally gave his assent.“The Governor gave his assent to the Bill on Sunday itself,” Arvind Kumar said.
It means that this Ordinance has to be placed before the Assembly and Council within six months for approval.
However, without knowing the facts that happened in the State in the last two days, several leaders of the Congress and the BJP including former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya issued statements that the Governor rejected the Municipalities Bill.
“So many rumours have been circulated in the social media and also in vernacular news channels about the Bill. They are not correct,” Arvind Kumar explained.
He said that there were rumours that the Governor even requested the State government to refer the Bill to the Central government. There was no truth in those messages. The new Municipalities Act is in place and it was promulgated on Tuesday, Arvind Kumar said.
How Governor finally gave his assent
Chief Minister K Chandra- sekhar Rao obtained consent from the Council of Ministers for the amended clause through circulation of a file. Later, the amended Bill was sent to Governor ESL Narasimhan, who finally gave his assent