Governor must act on Bills passed by State legislature: Supreme Court on Punjab Governor's inaction

The Supreme Court on Monday expressed concern over Governors of various states refraining from acting on bills passed by their respective State Assemblies and waiting for Supreme Court intervention before granting assent to such bills. .A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra urged Governors to address bills before they reach the Supreme Court while also recalling that the situation in the case of Telangana was similar. "Governors must act even before the matter comes to Supreme Court. This has to come to an end when Governors act only when matters reach the Supreme Court. This happened in Telangana case also," the Court said.The CJI also noted that the Punjab Legislative Assembly was adjourned sine die on March 22, 2023 without being prorouged and was reconvened three months later.He questioned whether this was Constitutional and remarked that the Chief Minister and Governor of Punjab required some "soul searching""Can this be done constitutionally? You have to hold a session in 6 months right? That is why life of ordinance cannot exceed 6 months. But governor says you adjourn the session for 3 months? Really speaking the budget session merges with the monsoon session. Is this really the scheme of the Constitution? Little bit of soul searching needed from CM and Governor. Governor must know that he is not a elected representative. He can withhold assent and sent it back once," the Court stated before listing the plea for further hearing on Friday, November 10..The bench was hearing a plea by the State of Punjab challenging the delay by Governor Banwarilal Purohit in giving assent to the bills passed by the State assemblies or proposed to be tabled by them.The Punjab Governor has granted assent only to 22 of the 27 bills passed by the Punjab Legislative Assembly during the tenure of the incumbent government led by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).The latest confrontation between Governor Purohit and the Bhagwant Mann-led government pertains to three money bills that were proposed to be presented by the State during a Special Session of the fourth Budget Session on October 20.The Money Bills had been forwarded to the Governor by State for prior approval ahead of the Special Session.However, while withholding his approval, Purohit said since the Budget Session already stood concluded on June 20, any such extended session was illegal, along with any business to be conducted during it.As a result, the Session was adjourned just hours after it began on October 20 due to the stalemate. .During the hearing today, Senior Advocate AM Singhvi, representing the Punjab government, emphasized that Governor Purohit had withheld assent on seven crucial bills, including fiscal and education-related legislation.Referring to the apex court's judgments in Nabam Rebia vs Deputy Speaker and Ors and Shamsher Singh vs State of Punjab, he asserted that the Governor does not have the authority to hold back bills in this manner..In response, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated that the Governor had already clarified that all bills were under consideration, but the decision was yet to be communicated. A status report on the same would be communicated to the Court on Friday, he stated..The Punjab government had earlier too moved the top court against Purohit citing his failure to summon the budget session of the house.That plea was eventually disposed of by the top court after the Governor summoned the assembly as per the advice of the council of ministers.The tussle between State Governors and governments has seen frequent litigation in the Supreme Court in past few months.In April, the top court had taken note that Governors were delaying their assent to bills passed by the State legislature and had urged them to keep in mind the mandate under Article 200 of the Constitution which casts a duty on them to clear bills "as soon as possible".The State of Telangana had also moved the apex court earlier seeking directions to the State's Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to give her assent to ten key bills passed by the State legislature..Similar pleas by States of Tamil Nadu and Kerala are also pending before the apex court.