Quite disappointing
Amid legal challenge over pending Bills, Kerala Governor approves one, sends 7 for President’s approval
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Tuesday gave his assent for one of the eight Bills pending with him, and reserved the other seven for presidential assent.
The Kerala government had earlier this month moved the Supreme Court against the Governor regarding the delay in clearing Bills passed by the Assembly. Last week, the Supreme Court had asked the office of the Governor to go through its verdict in a similar case filed by the Punjab government, in which the top court held that Governors could not “thwart the normal course of lawmaking”.
On Tuesday, the Governor cleared the Kerala Public Health Bill. The Bills sent for presidential assent are two University Amendment 2021 Bills, the Kerala Lokayukta Bill, two University Laws (Amendment) Bills, a Bill regarding the expansion of the University Search Committee, and the Kerala Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill.
A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud has been hearing the Kerala government’s plea against Governor Khan regarding the pending Bills. Pointing to the top court’s November 10 order in the Punjab matter, the CJI said the court would wait until November 28 to take up the matter again. “You ask the Governor’s secretary to look at it (the November 10 order) and tell us what your response is,” he told Attorney General R Venkataramani, who was representing the Governor.
In its petition, the state had said the pending Bills involve ones that are of great public interest, and that the delay in their approval would lead to people being deprived of welfare measures.
The Governor’s conduct, the state had said, “threatens to defeat and subvert the very fundamentals and basic foundations of our Constitution, including the rule of law and democratic good governance, apart from defeating the rights of the people of the state to the welfare measures sought to be implemented through the Bills.”
Express News Service – 2023-11-28 20:56
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