Verdict may impact five other Oppn-ruled states
The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi’s decision to reserve 10 re-enacted state bills for presidential assent will have an impact on similar disputes spanning across five other states
The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi’s decision to reserve 10 re-enacted state bills for presidential assent will have an impact on similar disputes spanning across five other states, experts said on Tuesday.
In a significant step to ensure timely gubernatorial action, the court also laid down specific timelines. In case a governor decides to withhold assent or reserve a bill for presidential consideration “upon the aid and advice of the state’s council of ministers”, he must act within one month of the bill being sent to him. Where such decisions go against the advice of the state government, a maximum period of three months is permitted for the Governor to return the bill with a message or reserve it for consideration of the President, the court added. And if the assembly reconsiders and then sends the bill back to the Governor, it has to be approved within a month.
Five states approached the top court against the decisions of their respective governors –– Tamil Nadu in 2023, West Bengal in 2024, Kerala in 2024, Punjab in 2023, and Telangana in 2023. Out of these, two are pending. All states are ruled by parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Kerala
In Kerala, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan hailed the top court’s ruling and said it upheld “the federal structure in the country and the democratic rights of the state assembly”.
“The SC has already made it clear on several occasions that governors must act on the advice of the cabinet. Moreover, this judgement also sets a specific time limit for passing bills. The ruling is a warning against the trend of Governors usurping the powers of the legislature. It is a victory for democracy,” the CM said.
The CM said that there was an unprecedented situation in Kerala where bills passed by the legislature were kept pending for up to 23 months. “Kerala is involved in a legal fight against it. The verdict underscores the relevance and importance such issues raised by Kerala,” he said.
Six bills are currently pending with the governor Rajendra Arlekar. This includes fivebills –– University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, University Laws (Amendment) (No 2) Bill, 2021, the University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022; The University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2022; and The University Laws (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill, 2022 –– proposing the removal of the governor as chancellor of universities.
The sixth bill is the Kerala Co-operative Societies Amendment Bill, 2022, which proposes a two-tier instead of a three-tier structure of credit societies and merging district cooperative banks into the Kerala state cooperative bank.
The top court on Tuesday deferred to May 13 the petitions filed by Kerala. KK Venugopal, who appeared for the state, referred to the TN judgment in court. ”For 23 months, several bills have been pending. It’s very unfortunate,” Venugopal told the court. The Kerela government enjoyed a fractious relationship with the former Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who was replaced by Rajendra Arlekar earlier this year, but while there have been no public confrontations (unlike the past), the bills remain pending.
West Bengal
In July 2024, the West Bengal government moved the top court, accusing the governor CV Ananda Bose and his predecessor and now vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar of stalling eight bills.
Seven of these pertained to removal of the governor from the administrative role of state universities and private universities and replacing him with a state government nominee –– the chief minister or education minister. Six bills –– The West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences (Amendment) Bill, The West Bengal Private University Laws (Amendment) Bill, West Bengal University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill, The West Bengal Krishi Viswavidyalaya Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, The West Bengal University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill and The Aliah University (Amendment) Bill –– were passed in June 2022. The West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill was passed in August 2023,
The eighth bill was the West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and Development) (Amendment) Bill 2023, which sought to do away with certain fees charged for development projects.
West Bengal parliamentary affairs minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said the Tamil Nadu order vindicated the state government’s stance. ”We welcome the decision and it shows that what our chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been saying for years was true. The governors are being used by the BJP to stall development,” he said.
Punjab
In October 2023, the Punjab government moved the Supreme Court against the then governor Banwarilal Purohit for sitting on bills. The governor had not given his assent to four bills, including The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and The Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Amendment Bill, 2023.
A three-judge bench of the apex court, in its November 10 judgment, while directing the governor to make a decision on the bills in accordance with the Constitution, said it is not an option constitutionally open to a governor to raise disputes over the validity of a session. The Supreme Court reproached the governor for keeping the bills pending.
It said that “in a parliamentary form of democracy, real power vests in the elected representatives”, while the governor, as an appointee of the President, is just a “titular head” of the state.
The governor later reserved three bills ––– the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023; the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023; and The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 for the consideration of the President in December 2023.
Karnataka
Karnataka ministers welcomed the top court order as two bills are pending with governor Thawar Chand Gehlot and five have been forwarded to President for assent. “An additional 20 bills approved in the budget session are being sent to the governor now,” said law and parliamentary affairs minister HK Patil. Earlier in March this year, the government was planning to move SC against the governor for not approving the bills, Patil said.
The bills pending with the governor include the Karnataka (Mineral Rights and Mineral Bearing Land) Tax Bill and the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University Bill. The bills pending with the governor include the Karnataka (Mineral Rights and Mineral Bearing Land) Tax Bill, which proposes new taxes on mineral rights and is projected to generate ₹4,713 crore in revenue and the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University Bill, which proposes replacing the governor with the chief minister as chancellor of the university
Patil said that the governor sent back seven bills –– the Karnataka Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, the Karnataka Souharda Sahakari (Amendment) Bill, the Gadag-Betageri Business, Culture, and Exhibition Authority Bill, the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Bill, the Mysuru Development Authority Bill, the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University Bill, and the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill –– seeking clarification, which is being provided.
Karnataka health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao termed the judgement as “wonderful”.
Telangana
Since 2022, the then Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan had kept as many as 10 bills pending. On March 2, 2023, the state government moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the governor to give assent to the pending bills with her.
When the case came up for hearing in the Supreme Court on April 24, 2023, the governor clarified that no bills passed by the state legislature were pending with her.
Hours before the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear the petition Soundararajan for creating a “constitutional impasse” by refusing to act on several bills, the governor signed off on three bills –– Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and Telangana Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
She said two bills –– The University of Forestry Telangana Bill, 2022 and The Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022 –– were sent for the President’s consideration. She also said she rejected the Telangana Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation) Bill, 2022,
This petition was later disposed of even as the top court held that the expression “as soon as possible” under Proviso 1 of Article 200 has significant constitutional intent and must be borne in mind by all constitutional authorities.
(With inputs from Divya Chandrababu, Srinivasa Rao Apparasu, and Navneet Sharma)
