NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday posted the Telangana government’s plea, seeking direction to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to give her assent to 10 key Bills passed by the State Legislature that are still pending before her, to April 10.
Among these bills are the Azamabad Industrial Area (Termination and Regulation of Leases) (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Telangana Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Telangana Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation) (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and the University of Forestry Telangana Bill, 2022.
A bench comprising, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala, granted Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s request for more time to seek further instructions. Mehta informed the court that he had already spoken to the Governor.
Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the Telangana government, emphasised that the pending Bills were a matter of concern as they had been pending since September 2022 and that this sends a “very wrong message.”
He further pointed out that in Madhya Pradesh, Bills were being assented to within seven to 10 days, and questioned why the same could not be done in Telangana. Dave argued that there was no point in keeping the Bills pending and that the Governor was bound by the law. He requested the court to list the matter on March 29, as any further delay in granting assent to the Bills would send a negative message.
Constitutional deadlock
Dave contended that the Telangana government was compelled to approach the Supreme Court under Article 32 due to the repeated constitutional deadlock caused by the Governor’s failure to act on several Bills passed by the State Legislature.
“By virtue of Article 163, the Governor is required to exercise their functions or any of them in their discretion only on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers with the chief minister as his head. The Governor is not expected to act independently,” he said.
He argued that Article 200 of the Constitution, which pertains to the duty of the Governor to assent to Bills after they have been passed by the State Legislative Assembly or the State with a Legislative Council, is written in mandatory language, as it uses the word “shall” repeatedly. This clearly implies that the Governor must act promptly to either grant or withhold assent and return the bill, only as advised by the council of ministers, it added.
“In a parliamentary democracy, the Governor has no discretion to differ or delay necessary assent as required on the bills presented for assent. Any refusal on the part of the Governor including any delay will defeat the parliamentary democracy and the will of the people,” he added.