New Delhi: The Supreme Court has issued notices to West Bengal and Kerala governors in connection with the petitions filed by their respective state governments alleging delay by governors in granting their assent to Bills that had been cleared by respective state assemblies.
Notices have also been issued to the Union home ministry, to which governors report. The Kerala government’s petition also goes a step ahead to challenge the action of President Droupadi Murmu in withholding assent for four Bills and the action of the Kerala governor in referring those Bills to the President.
The West Bengal government, in its petition, invoking Article 32 of the constitution, argued that governor C.V. Ananda Bose’s refusal to give his assent to Bills cleared by the state legislature violates Article 200 of the constitution.
West Bengal government’s counsel Jaideep Gupta informed the court that Bose’s office had communicated to the state government that some of the Bills had been reserved for the President’s consideration only after the matter was brought to the court.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, also appearing for the West Bengal government, told the court that it is becoming “a practice” for governors to act only after the matter is brought to the attention of the court.
“This is now becoming a practice, in Tamil Nadu matter I filed a petition, and the moment the matter is listed, two bills are cleared, the next date comes again something is sent to the President, I don’t understand why the Supreme Court has to list the matter before the Hon’ble Governor Acts,” Singhvi said, according to Livelaw.in.
A total of eight Bills, pertaining to state universities, which are cleared by the state assembly, are pending before the West Bengal governor.
Kerala’s counsel K.K. Venugopal told the court that governor Arif Mohammed Khan is acting in an unconstitutional manner. “The bills are pending for eight months. I am challenging reference to the President himself. This is a confusion among Governors that they keep bills pending. This is against the Constitution,” Venugopal, former attorney general, told the court, according to Bar and Bench.
Venugopal asked the court to lay down guidelines on when the governors can return/refer bills.
The three-judge Bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra ordered respondents to file their responses in three weeks, and instructed Kerala and West Bengal governments to file a joint note.
