In a sudden and swift move, the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government on Tuesday got the two crucial bills – aimed at repeal of AP Capital Regional Development Authority (APCRDA) and decentralisation of administration thereby creating three capitals for Andhra Pradesh – passed in the assembly.
While APCRDA (Repeal) Bill was introduced by municipal administration minister Botsa Satyanarayana, the Decentralisation of Administration Bill was introduced by finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy.
Both the bills were passed unanimously by voice vote, in the absence of the opposition, without discussion and debate in the state assembly.
Interestingly, the two bills were passed by the state assembly in January itself, but were stalled in the state legislative council, where the Telugu Desam Party was in majority.
Using his discretionary power, legislative council M A Sharif referred them to the select committee and constituted the committee, but they were rejected by the legislature secretary. As a result, the select committee formation has been hanging in balance.
Since no decision was taken in the last four months, the government has come to the conclusion that both the bills were deemed to have been rejected by the council. So fresh bills were introduced by the government in the assembly and passed by voice vote.
Since the bills were introduced for a second time, they don’t have to be sent to the council again. They will now be sent to the Governor, who will give his approval and send them to the Centre for Presidential assent, which is just a formality.
