Telangana Govt. to move High Court against Governor for approval of Budget proposals

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Government led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is contemplating moving the state High Court seeking directions to Governor Tamilisai Soundarajan to accord approval for the presentation of the State Budget for the financial year 2023-24.

The Government proposed to commence Budget session on February 3. The State government, which sent the budget proposals file to the Raj Bhavan on January 21, has not yet received any approval so far. Instead, the Governor's office sought information about the customary Governor's address to the joint session of the legislature. The Raj Bhavan has asked for a copy of the Governor’s address.

As the date fixed to hold the Budget session is approaching fast, the state government is left with only three days and it began the exercise to be completed at this crucial time and has decided to file a lunch motion petition on Monday and reportedly hired Supreme Court senior advocate Dushyant Dave to argue on behalf of the state government.

The petition is likely to come before the first bench headed by Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Tukaram ji.

The Telangana Government claims that the Governor doesn't need to address the joint session of the Assembly and the Council during the budget session and the only responsibility of her office is to approve the budget file sent by the government.

The BRS Government, according to sources, is likely to argue based on Article 202 of the Constitution, which directs the Governor to approve the budget no matter what.

It is known that there is no cordial relationship between the state government and the Governor's office for the past two years and the differences further escalated recently when the High Court ordered the KCR Government to hold Republic Day celebrations, but the government could not conform to the court order.

On the other hand, as many as seven Bills passed by the Legislature have been pending with the Governor for assent.

The Government has been pressing for the same as some of them were very important in running the administration.

The Governor, interestingly contrary to the constitutional practice, began to appear on national television channels and openly going hammer and tongs against the KCR Administration. The Governor is insisting on protocol deviations and dodging on the assent to the Bills.