The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Central government and the Kerala Governor’s Office on a writ petition filed by the State of Kerala against the President of India for withholding assent on four state bills.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, while issuing notice to the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Additional Chief Secretary to Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, agreed to consider the matter.
Appearing for the State, Senior Advocate and former Attorney General for India KK Venugopal submitted that there was a need for the Court to lay down guidelines on when the Governors court return or refer bills.
He contended that there was confusion in the minds of various Governors across the country on their powers regarding giving assent to bills.
He said in the present case, out of eight bills, one had been kept pending for 15 months, while another had remained pending for 13 months. Rest six had been pending for 10 months. This was a very sad state of affairs. The Constitution itself has been rendered otiose, he added.
Venugopal submitted that the State was challenging the very reference of the bills to the President.
The CJI asked Venugopal and Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing in a similar petition filed by the State of West Bengal, to formulate the points.
The former AG replied that the points have been formulated in an application filed by the State of Kerala in a pending petition against the Governor’s inaction on the bills.
The state of Kerala challenged the action of President Droupadi Murmu in withholding assent to four out of seven bills referred by the Kerala Governor.
Filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, the writ petition challenged the Governor’s action of referring the bills to the President, arguing that none of the bills related to Centre-State relations required Presidential assent.
The petition contended that the bills were related to amendments to laws concerning State Universities and Cooperative Societies. The State of Kerala pointed out that the Governor had kept these bills pending for several months, ranging from seven to 24 months from the date when the bills were passed by the Assembly.
The State had earlier filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court challenging the Governor’s inaction. After the Supreme Court issued notice on the petition on November 20, 2023, the Governor referred the seven bills to the President. On November 29, 2023, while hearing the petition, the Supreme Court criticised the Governor for sitting over the bills.
The President withheld assent from four bills on February 29 and approved three other bills.
Presidential assent was withheld for University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2021; the Kerala Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022; ) the University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022; and the University Laws (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill, 2022.
The State of Kerala argued that no reasoning has been given for such a rejection. The actions of the Union Government in advising the President of India to withhold the assent to bills passed by the State Legislature as long as 11-24 months back, which were wholly within the domain of the State Government, subverted and disrupted the federal structure, the petition contended.
It said the reasons given by the Governor for reserving the bills for the President have nothing to do with the Union of India or the relationship between the State Legislature and the Union.
The petition referred to the proviso in Article 213 of the Constitution, which set out the occasions when the assent of the President was necessary for promulgating an Ordinance. The State argued that only on the existence of these factors that a reference to the President was justified.
The State sought directions to call for the records leading to the file notes of the Governor for the State of Kerala with regard to the reservation of four bills for consideration of the President and quashing of the same.
The petition further sought to declare as unconstitutional, the act of the Governor for the State of Kerala reserving four bills viz for consideration of the President.
It requested the Apex Court to call for the records leading to the withholding of assent by the President to four bills and quash the same.
The State of Kerala further urged the top court of the country to declare as unconstitutional, withholding the assent by the President to four Bills without stating any reason whatsoever.
The petitioner sought directions to the Governor of Kerala to grant assent to six bills, including the University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2021 – Bill No. 50; the University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 – Bill No. 54; the Kerala Co-operative Societies Amendment Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 110; the University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 132; the University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 149; and the University Laws (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 150.
It further sought to declare that the act of the Governor of Kerala in reserving seven bills for the consideration of the President as illegal and lacking bona fide.
The bills include the University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2021 – Bill No. 50; the University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 – Bill No. 54; the Kerala Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 110; the University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 132; the Kerala Lok Ayukta (Amendment) Bill, 2022 – Bill No.133, the University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 149; and the University Laws (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 150.