New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned to July 25 the Kerala government's pleas challenging former Governor Arif Mohammed Khan’s prolonged delay in granting assent to bills passed by the state assembly.
A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar deferred the hearing after Attorney General R Venkataramani sought additional time to respond. Meanwhile, senior advocate K K Venugopal, representing the Kerala government, attempted to withdraw the plea, citing the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the Tamil Nadu Governor case that has rendered the matter infructuous.
However, both Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed the withdrawal, suggesting the petition could be tagged along with the President’s Article 143 reference concerning timelines for assenting to bills.
Venugopal expressed surprise at the opposition to his withdrawal request. “Why are my lords hesitant for the state to withdraw the petition? There has to be some rationale. This only means both parties will charge money,” he remarked. The bench clarified that there should be no objection to the withdrawal and listed the matter for further hearing on July 25.
The court had earlier, on April 22, said it would examine whether the Tamil Nadu judgment—which set timelines for the Governor and President to act on state bills—also addressed the concerns raised by Kerala. On April 8, while hearing Tamil Nadu’s plea, the apex court had set aside the Governor’s act of reserving 10 bills for the President’s consideration as “illegal and erroneous.” It also prescribed a three-month time limit for the President to act on bills forwarded by a Governor.
Kerala, in its plea, sought similar directions, arguing that the Governor’s inaction over multiple bills effectively paralysed the functioning of the state legislature. In 2023, the top court had expressed displeasure over then-Governor Khan “sitting” on bills for up to two years.
The Kerala government said Khan had reserved seven bills for the President, despite being required under Article 200 to decide on them himself. None of the bills, it said, involved Centre-state relations and should not have been referred.
Among the pending bills were the University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2021; the Kerala Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022; and multiple other university-related amendments. The Ministry of Home Affairs later informed the state that four of the seven bills had been denied presidential assent.
The state contended that by not acting “as soon as possible,” as required under Article 200 of the Constitution, the Governor had undermined the legislature's authority. It also pointed out that the Constitution is silent on how much time the President can take to grant or deny assent to a bill once referred.
Article 361 of the Constitution states that the President or Governor shall not be answerable to any court for the exercise of their official powers. However, the petition argued that prolonged inaction by a Governor could not be permitted to override legislative intent and democratic processes.
With PTI inputs