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State of Kerala has submitted that any of the Bills pending before the Governor involve immense public interest, and provide for welfare measures which would stand E deprived and denied to the people of the State to the extent of the delay.
The Supreme Court today remarked that it could not conduct a roving inquiry into the actions of a Governor in not granting assent to bills pending before him.
Sr Adv KK Venugopal informed a CJI DY Chandrachud led bench today that out of 8 bills the Governor had granted assent to one.
Hearing this, the bench said, "The governor has taken action..the constitutional position has been clarified in the Punjab judgment..he has taken action..we will have to dispose it of..the ambit of this petition comes to an end..".
As the hearing progressed, the bench went on to note that the other 7 bills were being sent to the President.
"He cannot blindly take 7 bills and present it before the President...it would be unfair for the President..", Venugopal added.
"For two years a welfare bill is not allowed to be made a law...the governor seems to be adversarial..if this court does not step in..the people of the state will suffer..the court should take this case to lay down some guidelines..", the bench also comprising Justices Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was further told.
Hearing this, the bench decided to give some time to the Governor to act and consider the issue on passing a few directions later.
Few days back, Supreme Court had issued notice in a 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.
It is the Kerala government's case 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, the plea submits.
"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.
Court has been told that the conduct of Governor Mohammad Arif Khan threatens to defeat and subvert the very fundamentals and basic foundations of our Constitution, including the rule of law and democratic good governance, apart from defeating the rights of the people of the State to the welfare measures sought to be implemented through the Bills.
The petition filed under Article 32 adds that strangely, a bill presented on April 6, 2023, i.e. the Kerala Private Forest (Vesting and Assignment) Bill, 2023 has been disposed of by the Governor on September 18, 2023 which indicates that the non-disposal of the earlier Bills presented to the Governor is a conscious act.
Notably, Kerala Government has also filed an SLP before the Supreme Court over their Governor Mohammad Arif Khan's delay in giving assent to bills being passed by the State Legislature.
The State has moved the SLP against a 2022 High Court ruling which rejected a petition by a Kochi-based lawyer challenging the Governor’s decision to indefinitely withhold the bills passed.
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