Functioning of the 1st Telangana Legislative Assembly (2014-2018)

The 1^st Legislative Assembly sat for an average of 26 days every year

Note: The total sitting days in a year includes the Governor’s Address.

·   The 1^st Assembly sat for 130 days.  It was dissolved nine months prior to its full term, on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.

·   Note that the state government decides the duration for which the legislature should meet.

·   The Assembly sat for 612 hours.  21% time was spent on the question hour, 20% on discussing demand for grants, 10% on legislative business, 9% on discussing the budget, and 6% on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s Address.

·   The primary functions of a state legislature include (i) passing laws on subjects under the State list, such as land, education, and health, (ii) approving government expenditure, (iii) discussing matters of public importance, and (iv) questioning government policies.  By convening for shorter durations, legislators may not have adequate time to perform these tasks effectively.

·   Between 2014 and 2016, the Telangana Assembly sat for an average of 28 days in a year.  Note that between 2011 and 2016, the average annual sitting days across 26 Assemblies was also 28 days.

Note: Data on sitting days for the Telangana Assembly is from June 2014 to January 2017.

10% of session time spent on legislative business; 62 Bills passed

Note: The duration of passage is for the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council combined.

·   11% Bills were passed on the same day as their introduction.  These include (i) the Telangana Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Bill, 2017, and (ii) the Telengana Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

·   An additional 65% Bills were passed within one to seven days of their introduction. 

·   24% Bills were passed more than a week since their introduction.  These include amendments to VAT.

Many amendments introduced; maximum Bills in the areas of finance and taxation

Note: The 62 Bills passed do not include 9 Appropriation Bills.

·   Of the 62 Bills passed, 20 created new Acts, 41 amended existing Acts, and one repealed existing Acts.

·   The highest number of Bills were introduced in the areas of (i) finance and taxation, and (ii) police.

·   Of the 14 Bills introduced in finance and taxation, nine were Bills to amend Acts in relation to VAT and excise.  Further, the Telangana Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 was enacted in 2017.

·   Six Bills introduced in education include (i) the Telangana State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Bill, 2018, and (ii) the Telangana (Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Telugu in Schools) Bill, 2018.

·   Some other important Bills include (i) the Telangana State Industrial Project Approval and Self Certification System (TS-iPASS) Bill, 2014, (ii) the Telangana Domestic and Industrial Water Grid Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Bill, 2015, (iii) the Telangana Districts (Formation) (Amendment) Bill, 2016, and (iv) the Telangana State Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes Special Development Fund (Planning, Allocation and Utilization of Financial Resources) Bill, 2017.

25 Ordinances promulgated; nine Ordinances in the areas of police and agriculture

Note: The 40 Bills passed do not include Bills replacing an Ordinance.

·   The government promulgated 25 Ordinances in the current Assembly.  All of these were passed as Bills in the Assembly.  In addition, 40 other Bills were passed.

·   The Ordinances in police were related to the establishment of Police Commissionerates, in areas such as Cyberabad and Warangal.

·   The Ordinances in agriculture were related to debt relief, agricultural produce and livestock markets.

21% of session time spent on Question Hour; 38% questions answered orally

·   Ministers are required to give answers to starred questions on the floor of the House.  Every day, 10 starred questions are selected to be answered during the Question Hour.

·   On average, five questions were orally answered by Ministers on the floor of the House.

Sources: Session end resume and list of Bills passed for years 2014 to 2018 from Telangana Legislative Assembly website; PRS.