New Delhi: Following petitions filed by the Kerala and West Bengal governments against their respective governors not assenting to bills, the Supreme Court sought responses from the Centre and the governors on Friday, PTI reported.
Notably, it is the opposition parties that are ruling Kerala and West Bengal, where the state administrations and governors are at loggerheads. However, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra gave the Centre and the governors of the two states three weeks to file replies.
The Kerala state government sought the court to frame guidelines on when the governors can return or refer bills to the president. The Pinarayi government had moved the Supreme Court against Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan for withholding eight bills. The Left government also moved the court against President Droupadi Murmu, withholding four of the seven bills referred to by Arif Khan.
Appearing for Kerala, senior advocate KK Venugopal told the court that there is confusion in the minds of various governors in the country as to what their powers are in regard to assenting bills, Live Law reported. He added that out of eight bills of Kerala, two are pending for 23 months, one for 15 months and another for 13 months, while the rest are ten months. He said that the Constitution itself is being rendered otiose, Live Law reported.
As per Article 200 of the Constitution, governors have powers to either grant assent to a bill, reject it or reserve it for the president's consideration in certain cases.