Supreme Court allows Kerala to withdraw plea against Governor for delaying assent on Bills

The Supreme Court yesterday allowed the Kerala government to withdraw its plea against its Governor for delaying the grant of assent to Bills passed by the State Assembly.

Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta objected to the withdrawal stating that the plea be tagged with the pending Presidential reference on the issue.

"This is not a withdrawal in simpliciter. Let the matter be heard. The Tamil Nadu judgment perhaps needs to be referred to a larger Bench. There is also Presidential reference now", the AG submitted.

"I understand....but they want to withdraw," Justice Narasimha told the AG in response.

Senior Advocate KK Venugopal told court that they were covered by the decision of Supreme Court from April 8, wherein it held that the scheme of Article 200 is characterized by the movement of the bill from one constitutional authority to another and that too with a sense of expediency and it is not open for the Governor to reserve a Bill for the consideration of the President once it is presented to him in the second round, after having been returned to the House previously as per the first proviso.

In said decision, the Supreme Court had further held that once a bill is returned to the Governor after reconsideration by the State legislature, it must be assented to without delay. The Governor cannot reserve such a bill for the President’s consideration, as per the constitutional scheme under Article 200.

The Supreme Court in November 2023 had remarked that it could not conduct a roving inquiry into the actions of the Kerala Governor in not granting assent to bills pending before him.

Supreme Court had issued notice in the plea by Kerala Government seeking appropriate orders in relation to the inaction on the part of the Governor of the State in relation to as many as 8 Bills passed by the State Legislature and presented to the Governor for his assent under Article 200 of the Constitution.

The Kerala government's has submitted that of the 8 pending bills, 3 Bills have remained pending with the Governor for more than 2 years, and 3 more in excess of a full year.

"Grave injustice is being done to the people of the State, as also to its representative democratic institutions (i.e. the State Legislature and the Executive) by the Governor, by keeping Bills pending for long periods of time, including 3 Bills for longer than 2 years. The Governor appears to be of the view that granting assent or otherwise dealing with Bills is a matter entrusted to him in his absolute discretion, to decide whenever he pleases. This is a complete subversion of the Constitution...", the petition submits.

Case Title: State of Kerala & Anr. vs. Hon’ble Governor for State of Kerala & Ors.

Hearing Date: July 25, 2025

Bench: Justices Narasimha and Chandurkar