SC seeks responses of Centre, Guvs on denial of assent to bills in WB, Kerala

The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear separate petitions from Kerala and West Bengal both of which claim that their governors have rejected assent to measures passed by their legislative houses Kerala further stated that Governor Arif Mohammed Khan forwarded some bills to President Droupadi Murmu which are currently pending approval reported PTIAccording to the report taking note of the petitions the Supreme Court sent letters to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the secretaries of Kerala Governor Khan and his West Bengal counterpart CV Ananda Bose for responses within three weeksThe bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra also instructed the Trinamool Congressled West Bengal government to enlist the Home Ministry as a party in the appealKeralas CPIMled Left Democratic Front administration filed a petition in March claiming that several measures approved by the legislative assembly were forwarded to the president by the governor and are still awaiting approval West Bengal said that its governor was withholding assent to eight laws the report addedReportedly Senior counsel KK Venugopal representing the Kerala government called the situation most unfortunate The court responded We are issuing notices to the secretary to the governors and the Union in both casesVenugopal continued The bills have been languishing for the past eight months Im disputing the reference to the president There is a misunderstanding among the governors They keep the bills waiting This violates the ConstitutionSenior counsel Abhishek Singhvi representing West Bengal stated that he would make the Centre a party and file a written notice to help the court He highlighted examples from other states like Tamil Nadu where laws were either cleared or referred to the president after the Supreme Court scheduled a hearing the PTI report addedVenugopal suggested that the Supreme Court should provide criteria for when governors can return or refer lawsAccording to the report senior counsel Jaideep Gupta who represents West Bengal stated that the governor referred certain proposals to the president once they knew the matter was coming up for hearingKerala indicated that its complaint concerns the governors decision to defer seven laws to the president which he should have handled himself None of these bills address Centrestate relations These laws have been languishing with the governor for nearly two years calling the state legislature ineffective and otioseThe measures in question are public interest bills that have been rendered ineffective due to the governors inaction pursuant to the proviso to Article 200 The state administration stated that on February 23 and 29 the Home Ministry told it that the president had refused assent to four of the seven bills the PTI report addedThe Constitution does not define how long the president may take to grant assent to a measure passed by a state legislature and referred for presidential consideration Article 361 of the Constitution states that the president or governor shall not be answerable to any court for their official acts stated PTIThe news agency added West Bengal stated that withholding of assent for no reason violates Article 200 of the Constitution which establishes the procedure for presenting a measure enacted by the state assembly to the governor for assent West Bengals laws awaiting the governors approval include the West Bengal University Laws Amendment Bill the West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences Amendment Bill and others enacted by the state house in 2022 and 2023