SC Seeks Reply Of Centre, Kerala & Bengal Governor's Office On Plea Alleging Delay In Granting Assent To Bills

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra directed the Governors' offices and the Central government to provide their responses.

Senior advocate KK Venugopal, representing Kerala, argued that the state was contesting the governor's decision to refer bills to the President.

Source : PTI

The Supreme Court sought responses from the Central government and the secretaries to the governors of West Bengal and Kerala regarding separate pleas from the two state governments on Friday. The pleas challenged the governors' decisions to deny assent to bills and refer them to the President for consideration.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra directed the Governors' offices and the Central government to provide their responses.

Senior advocate KK Venugopal, representing Kerala, argued that the state was contesting the governor's decision to refer bills to the President, according to a report on PTI. Similarly, senior advocates Abhishek Singhvi and Jaideep Gupta, representing West Bengal, claimed that each time the issue was brought before the Supreme Court, the governor’s office had referred the bills to the President.

Senior advocate KK Venugopal, appearing for the Kerala government, as per PTI said, "This is the most unfortunate situation."

The bench said, "We are issuing notices to the secretary to the governors and the Union in both cases."

Venugopal further as per the report said, "The bills are pending for the last eight months. I am challenging the reference to the president itself ... This is a confusion among the governors. They keep the bills pending. This is against the Constitution." 

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing West Bengal, stated that he would involve the Centre as a party and submit a written note to aid the court in deciding the plea.

 

Recently, the West Bengal government lodged a new petition alleging that Governor CV Ananda Bose is delaying his approval of bills passed by the State Legislative Assembly. This follows a similar petition previously submitted by Kerala against its Governor, Arif Mohammad Khan.