Seemandhra MLAs’ ploy to stall Telangana Bill won’t work, say experts

HYDERABAD: The game plan of the Seemandhra legislators to create a constitutional crisis by stalling the debate in the state assembly on the bifurcation Bill will fall flat, say experts. According to them, even if the state assembly is unable to send its view by January 23, 2014, the time given to it by President Pranab Mukherjee, the AP Reorganization Bill can be tabled in Parliament and taken up for debate and legislation.
“There will be no constitutional crisis if the state assembly is not able to debate on the Bill and send its views by the stipulated time. The constitutional requirement is that the state has to be consulted. If the requirement is fulfilled by the Centre, then whether the state approves the Bill, rejects it or gives no opinion, the Bill can be taken up for consideration by Parliament,” noted constitutional expert and former Lok Sabha secretary-general Subhash C Kashyap told TOI.
With the AP assembly Business Advisory Committee on Tuesday deciding that the House will continue with the debate on the T Bill till Friday and meet again if necessary,
Seemandhra legislators are determined to prevent the proceedings from taking place. MLAs belonging to the YSR Congress and TDP from the region made it clear on Tuesday evening that they will not allow the proceedings to take place unless the assembly first passes a resolution to keep the state united.
However, such tactics will not prevent Parliament from taking up the Bill for consideration, said KTS Tulsi, another constitutional expert.
Ashok Bhan, another constitutional expert and Supreme Court senior counsel, too was clear that non-cooperation on the part of the state legislators will not come in the way of Parliament taking up the Telangana Bill.
“The Constitution as well as several judgments of the Supreme Court have made it mandatory for the President to send the Bill to the assembly to elicit its opinion. If the members of the assembly are not willing to cooperate on this exercise, it is their choice. By sending the Bill to the AP assembly, the President has exhausted one of his duties. No response or a negative reaction from the assembly will not make the ongoing bifurcation exercise illegal,” he said.
The experts, however, expressed doubts whether the Bill will be brought forward in Parliament due to like the lack of consensus and announcement of general elections.