Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday felt that the contentious issue of the power of TS government to amend statutes through executive orders relying on the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, instead of taking the legislative route, needs in-depth examination.
A division bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice A.V. Sesha Sai, was hearing a PIL by Dasoju Sravan Kumar, chief spokesperson of the TPCC, challenging the recent amendment to the GHMC Act allowing MLCs to enroll as registered voters in the GHMC limits anytime to become ex-officio members of the Corporation.
TS A-G K. Ramakrishna Reddy, defending the amendment, said that Section 100 and 101 of AP Reorganisation Act empowered the government to amend the statutes existing in the erstwhile state of AP after its adaptation.
Citing the instance of Bihar state where a similar situation had arisen, the A-G said that the Act of 2014 also allows the government to amend laws that have been already adapted, within two years from the date of formation of new state and there was no need of seeking legislative consent to do so.
R. Raghunandan, senior counsel appearing for the petitioner, refuted the A-G’s contention saying that the government was wrongly interpreting the relevant Sections. He said that a plain reading of the provisions make it clear that the government has power either to repeal or amend laws while adaptation, but it has to seek legislative consent to amend law after elapsing of some time from the date of its adaptation.
The bench asked the counsel for the petitioner and the A-G to look into the provisions of the Constitution and if any judgments on a similar issue and place the relevant material before the court to prove their contentions.
