New Delhi: The Punjab government moved the court on October 28 seeking clearance of seven bills and Tamil Nadu on October 31 for assent to 12 bills
The Kerala government has moved the Supreme Court against the governor’s refusal to clear eight bills meant for public welfare and sought a direction for their clearance forthwith. It argued the governor has been sitting on three of the bills for over two years.
Kerala is the third state to move the court on the same issue this week. The Punjab government moved the court on October 28 seeking clearance of seven bills and Tamil Nadu on October 31 for assent to 12 bills and signing of files related to appointments, prosecution sanctions, and premature release of prisoners.
In its plea filed through advocate CK Sasi, the Kerala government said governor Arif Mohammed Khan’s conduct threatens to defeat and subvert the fundamentals and basic foundations of the Constitution, including the rule of law and democratic good governance apart from defeating the rights of the people to the welfare measures sought to be implemented through the bills.
The governor’s assent for bills is required under the Constitution’s Article 200. In April, the court said the expression “as soon as possible” in the article necessarily means that bills should be dealt with urgently and expeditiously without any avoidable delay.
“The urgency should normally mean a few weeks and nothing more, as the state legislature, through its elected representatives has finally decided that the public interest would require, as a part of the governance of the state, to have the bills made into law as soon as possible,” said the court while hearing the Telangana government plea against the governor delay in clearing bills.
