Telangana governor puts TSRTC bill on hold, wants more time to study it

Hyderabad: Tamilisai Soundararajan, the governor of Telangana, has not yet given permission to introduce the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (Absorption of Employees into Government Service) Bill, 2023 in the Assembly. She said she wanted to examine the bill and obtain a legal opinion on it.

On July 31, the Telangana Cabinet decided to absorb about 43,000 TSRTC employees into government service. A draft bill proposing the changes was sent to the governor for her permission to be introduced in the Assembly, as it had financial implications. However, the governor has yet to take a call on it.

In a press communique from the governor, in response to the allegations of delaying bills, she said, “The Assembly was scheduled to meet on August 3. However, the draft bill of 'The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (Absorption of Employees into Government Service) Bill, 2023' was received by Raj Bhavan, Hyderabad, on August 2 at about 3:30 pm, requesting permission to introduce it in the next Assembly session.”

The TSRTC employees have been demanding the merger of the corporation with the state government for a long time. The merger is expected to provide job security and better benefits to the employees.

If the governor does not give permission before the Assembly is adjourned on August 6 (Sunday), the government will have to wait until after the elections to introduce the bill. Even then, the bill would go back to the governor for her consent.

It is unclear whether the governor will give her consent to introduce the bill, as she had not given consent to other bills that passed by the Assembly in the past.

On Saturday, TSRTC employees are likely to organize Chalo Raj Bhavan in protest of the Governor's refusal to allow the State Assembly to introduce the bill absolving RTC employees of their duties as public servants.