On Tuesday, the Supreme Court announced it would contemplate transferring the Kerala government’s plea, which challenges the delay by the governor in approving bills passed by the state assembly, to another bench. The request, made by Senior Advocate K K Venugopal on behalf of the state government, suggests shifting the case to a bench led by Justice J B Pardiwala, which has recently reserved judgment on a similar issue involving the Tamil Nadu government.
During the proceedings, Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna was addressed by Venugopal who emphasized the urgency of the matter. “Please move the mentioning slip. I will see,” responded the Chief Justice to the submission. Venugopal highlighted the critical nature of the situation, saying, “The governor refers pending bills to the President, the President keeps it for one year and 3 months, and yesterday we received my lords, the rejection with regards to two bills. This is a very very urgent matter.”
This legal tussle stems from earlier frustrations expressed by the top court over the actions of then Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who reportedly withheld assent to bills for up to two years. Khan is currently assigned as the Governor of Bihar.
Previously, the Supreme Court expressed its intention to possibly establish guidelines regarding the conditions under which governors can refer bills to the President of India for approval. The need for such guidelines was underscored by incidents where the Kerala governor delayed decisions on several legislative bills, prompting the court to encourage discussions between the governor and Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to foster “some political sagacity.”
Venugopal argued that the governor’s prolonged inaction on the bills not only disrupts governance but also contradicts the cooperative spirit expected between the state assembly and the governor, whom he accused of acting more as an adversary than an ally.
