The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Centre on the Kerala government’s plea against the delay by the governor to decide on eight bills pending with him for periods ranging from seven months to two years.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra kept the matter on Friday.
The Kerala government had moved the top court claiming that Governor Arif Mohammed Khan was delaying his assent to the bills passed by the assembly, which is “defeating the rights of the people”.
It has claimed inaction on the governor’s part in relation to eight bills passed by the Kerala legislature and said many of these bills involve immense public interest and provide for welfare measures that would stand deprived and denied to the people of the southern state to the extent of the delay.
“The petitioner – state of Kerala — in fulfilment of its parens patriae obligation to its people, seeks appropriate orders from this court in relation to the inaction on the part of the governor of the state in relation to as many as eight bills passed by the state legislature and presented to the governor for his assent under Article 200 of the Constitution.
“Of these, three bills have remained pending with the governor for more than two years and three more in excess of a full year. The conduct of the governor, as would presently be demonstrated, 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 by the Kerala government states.
The state government has contended that grave injustice is being done to the people of the state as also to its representative democratic institutions by the governor by keeping the bills pending for long periods of time, including three for more than two 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,” it has submitted.
The plea said the governor’s conduct in keeping the bills pending for long and indefinite periods of time is also manifestly arbitrary and violates Article 14 of the Constitution.
(With inputs from agencies)
