The Supreme Court on July 25 (Friday) allowed the Kerala government to withdraw its pleas against the Governor over the delay in approving bills passed by the state assembly, however, the Central government raised its objections to it.
A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar passed the order after senior advocate KK Venugopal, appearing for the Kerala government, sought withdrawal of the plea and said the issue had turned infructuous in view of the recent judgment passed in the Tamil Nadu Governor case.
Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed the submission and urged the court to await the top court's decision on the reference of the President under Article 143 of the Constitution over the grant of assent to bills.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta suggested that the State's petitions could be tagged along with the President's reference on the issue of timelines for Governors to act on Bills, which is now before a Constitution Bench, according to LiveLaw.
However, Venugopal opposed, asking, "how can withdrawal be tagged? Constitution Bench will be surprised." Attorney General for India R Venkataramani then submitted, "the judgment under reference, the Tamil Nadu case, is what is being relied upon." "I am not relying upon anything. I am withdrawing it," Venugopal has been quoted as saying.
On April 22, the top court said it would examine whether the recent judgement on a plea of Tamil Nadu, fixing timelines for the grant of assent to bills, covered the issues raised by the Kerala government in its pleas.
Acting on a plea of Tamil Nadu government, an apex court bench on April 8 set aside the reservation of the 10 bills for President's consideration in the second round holding it as illegal, erroneous in law.
The bench, for the first time, also prescribed a time limit for the President to decide on the bills reserved for her consideration by the Governor. It set a three-month timeframe from the date on which such reference was received.
Kerala sought similar directions in its petition.
In 2023, the top court expressed displeasure over then Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan "sitting" for two years on bills passed by the state legislature.
Khan is currently Governor of Bihar.
The top court, on July 26, last year, agreed to consider the plea of opposition-ruled Kerala alleging the denial of assent to bills passed by the legislative assembly.
The Kerala government alleged that Khan referred certain bills to President Droupadi Murmu and those were yet to be cleared.
Taking note of the pleas, the top court issued notices to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the secretaries of Kerala Governor.
The state said its plea related to the acts of the Governor in reserving seven bills, which he was required to deal with himself, to the President.
Not one of the seven bills had anything to do with Centre-state relations, it argued.
The bills were pending with the Governor for as long as two years and his action "subverted" the functioning of the state legislature, rendering its very existence "ineffective and otiose", the state added.
"The bills include public interest bills that are for the public good, and even these have been rendered ineffective by the Governor not dealing with each one of them 'as soon as possible', as required by the proviso to Article 200," the plea said.
The state government had said the home ministry informed it that President had withheld assent to four of the seven bills -- University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2021; Kerala Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022; University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022; and University Laws (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill, 2022.
The Constitution is silent on how much time the President can take in granting assent to a bill passed by a state legislature and referred to the Rashtrapati Bhavan for presidential consideration or for denying consent.
Article 361 of the Constitution says the President, or Governor of a state, shall not be answerable to any court for the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of his office or for any act done or purporting to be done by him in the exercise and performance of those powers and duties.
With inputs from PTI
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