Supreme Court directs to review Punjab’s order in Government vs Governor dispute

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said the Secretary to the Kerala Governor should look into the order passed by the court on the Bhagwant Mann government’s petition against the Punjab Governor’s inaction in approving the bills passed by the state Assembly.
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In the Punjab case, the court ruled that the Governor, as part of the legislature, cannot withhold assent to bills without further recourse, essentially vetoing the functioning of the legislative domain by a duly elected legislature.

In its separate petition, the Kerala government claimed that 8 bills passed by the state legislature and presented to the Governor for his assent under Article 200 of the Constitution were pending for more than two years.

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Senior advocate KK Venugopal, representing the Kerala government, argued before a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud that the court’s judgment in the Punjab case would be applicable to their case. He mentioned that several bills sent to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan for assent were pending for the last two years.

The bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra, told Attorney General R Venkataramani, “Since our order in the Punjab case was uploaded last night, ask the Secretary to the Governor to see the order and tell us.” What is your reaction on Tuesday?” ,

The Attorney General said that he will talk to the Governor. “All the ministers have met him, the Chief Minister has met him (the Governor) several times,” Venugopal said. The court has fixed the next hearing of the case on Tuesday.

On November 20, the Supreme Court issued notice on a petition by the Kerala government claiming that the state Governor was delaying consideration of bills passed by the Legislative Assembly.