SC’s Clarity on Assent Disappoints Telangana Congress
Telangana's two Bills enabling the enhanced quota have been pending with Governor Jishnu Dev Varma for nearly four months, while two earlier Bills relating to 42 per cent BC quota in education, employment and local bodies have been awaiting Presidential assent for over eight months, since April
Hyderabad: The Supreme Court’s clarification on Thursday that the President and Governors are not bound by timelines for approving Bills passed by state legislatures, and that the apex court cannot approve of ‘deemed assent’ has come as a disappointment to the ruling Congress in Telangana.
The Congress has been awaiting gubernatorial assent for key Bills aimed at providing 42 per cent reservations for the Backward Classes (BCs) communities. The apex court’s opinion in the Presidential Reference has ended hopes that the legislation would automatically be considered approved if no action was taken within a specified period.
Telangana's two Bills enabling the enhanced quota have been pending with Governor Jishnu Dev Varma for nearly four months, while two earlier Bills relating to 42 per cent BC quota in education, employment and local bodies have been awaiting Presidential assent for over eight months, since April.
On March 18, the Assembly passed two major Bills — the Telangana Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in Services under the State) Bill, 2025 and the Telangana Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Rural and Urban Local Bodies) Bill, 2025.
The first Bill sought 42 per cent reservations for BCs in education and public employment, while the second extended the same quota to rural and urban local body seats. The Governor referred both bills to the President in early April, citing concerns that increasing the quota would breach the 50 per cent reservations ceiling set by the Supreme Court. The President has not acted on them since.
On August 31, the Assembly cleared two more Bills — the Telangana Municipalities (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the Telangana Panchayat Raj (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025 — to mandate 42 per cent BC quota in municipal bodies, gram panchayats, zilla parishads and mandal parishads.
These Bills amended laws enacted during the previous BRS regime, which capped total reservations at 50 per cent. The proposed BC quota would have raised total reservation to 67 per cent due to existing SC (15 per cent) and ST (10 per cent) quotas. These bills, sent to Raj Bhavan in September, remain pending for three months.
In April 2025, a two-judge Supreme Court bench had fixed timelines for constitutional authorities, prescribing three months for Presidential assent and one month for Governors to decide on re-enacted Bills, with inaction to be deemed as assent.
That verdict had raised expectations in Congress circles that the pending Bills would get enacted by default, prompting the state government to issue GO 9 on September 29 implementing 42 per cent BC quota in local bodies. The High Court stayed the GO in October, and the Supreme Court declined to interfere.
The five-judge Constitution Bench on Thursday answering the Presidential Reference rejected the principle of “deemed assent” and ruled out mandated timelines, dashing the Telangana government’s expectations.
