Supreme Court issues notice to Kerala and West Bengal Governors, Centre over delay in clearing bills

The Supreme Court has agreed to examine in detail petitions filed by the State governments of Kerala and West Bengal alleging delays by their respective Governors in clearing bills..A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra today sought the response of the respective Governors' offices as well as the Central government in the matter. "Let reply be filed in three weeks and let a joint note be submitted from the States," the Court added..Notably, a fresh petition was filed by the West Bengal government accusing Governor CV Ananda Bose of delaying the grant of assent to bills cleared by the State Legislative Assembly. Earlier, a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by one Sayan Mukherjee with similar allegations against Governor Bose, in which matter the Court had issued notice in April. Meanwhile, a similar plea had already been filed by the State of Kerala against Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan. Representing the Kerala government today, Senior Advocate KK Venugopal reiterated that the Kerala Governor has been acting in an unconstitutional manner."The bills are pending for 8 months. I am challenging reference to the President himself. This is a confusion among Governors that they keep bills pending. This is against the Constitution," the former Attorney General said.The Court said that it would seek a response in the matter from the Additional Chief Secretary to the Governor as well as the Central government..During the hearing, Senior Advocate AM Singhvi indicated that there were similar issues raised in the West Bengal government's petition against Governor Bose. "I represent West Bengal.. we will frame common issues," he said. "Issue notice in the West Bengal case as well. Liberty to implead Union government. The amendment may be carried out during the course of the day. We will issue notice to the Governor and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs," the Court ordered. Notably, Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, also representing the West Bengal government, observed that soon after this matter was mentioned before the Court, the Governor indicated that only some bills are reserved now. "Every time the Court hears it, some bills are cleared. Same happened during Tamil Nadu case as well," Singhvi added. .A number of cases have cropped up before the apex court involving inaction on the part of Governors in states which are not ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).In April 2023, the top court had taken note that Governors were delaying their assent to bills passed by State legislatures 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 moved the apex court seeking directions to then Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to give her assent to ten key bills passed by the State legislature.Similar petitions by Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala were also moved before the apex court.On November 10, 2023, the Court had taken exception to Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi refusing to give assent to as many as 12 bills passed by the State legislature.While deciding the plea by the Punjab government, the Court on November 23, 2023 held that a Governor is only a symbolic head of a state, and cannot thwart the lawmaking powers of legislatures..Go through the judgment about Punjab Governor: Supreme Court to Kerala Governor