NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the long delay in clearing of Bills by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi and asked why he assented to the Bills only after the issue was taken to the apex court. “The Bills have been pending since January 2020... And this action was after our order. What was the governor doing for last three years? Why should these cases come to the Supreme Court?” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud remarked. The CJI noted the similarity with the Punjab governor clearing Bills on November 10 after that state approached the SC on the matter.
As the court was informed that the TN Legislative Assembly again passed the 10 Bills for which the governor had withheld assent, the CJI noted that the governor has no “discretion” to sit on the Bills and cannot withhold them once the Assembly clears them again.
The bench headed by the CJI, comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, was hearing the plea filed by the TN government on the governor’s delay in clearing Bills. The state claimed that Ravi has been “engaging in politically-motivated conduct”.
Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the office of the governor, informed the top court that 12 of the Bills mentioned in TN’s writ petition were disposed of on November 13. Out of the 12 Bills, assent was withheld in 10 and two were reserved for consideration of the President. Subsequently, a special session of Assembly was convened on November 18 to re-adopt the Bills and send them back to the governor for his assent. The AG, in a submission, stated that out of the 181 Bills sent to the governor, 152 had been cleared, five withdrawn by the government and nine reserved by the governor for referral to the President. Five Bills received in October 2023 are under process, the submission read.
The court also noted the AG’s submission that “out of the 10 Bills, real dispute appears to be the amendments made to the state universities legislations,” as a result of which the chancellor will be stripped off his powers in regard to the selection of the vice-chancellors. Stating it would not enter into the merits of the Bills, the court asked why the governor acted only last week after the government moved the court and why not earlier.
Only 53 out of 580 proposals pending: Governor’s office
This information was part of a submission made by the Attorney General, appearing for the office of the governor, before the SC on Monday. The submission was titled ‘Factual position regarding Bills, files and other cases pending with the office of the TN governor’. According to the submission, the governor has received 580 proposals on premature release of life convict prisoners since September 2021, when Ravi assumed office.
Of them, 362 proposals were approved, 165 rejected and 53 proposals are under consideration. “Of the 53 pending proposals, two were received on June 20, one on August 4, one on August 9, and the remaining 49 were received on August 24. All the pending proposals have been received recently,” the SC was told. On the proposals relating to the appointment of members of the TNPSC, the SC was informed that there was no transparency in the entire selection process.
“As the government did not address the concerns of the governor in the manner of selection, the concerned proposal was returned on October 26. Currently, this matter is not pending in the office of the governor. However, the governor has approved all the other proposals for appointment received from the government,” the SC was informed.
In the submission, the governor’s office also defended its issuances of a notification regarding the search committee for selection of Vice-Chancellors in three state universities. The SC was also informed that all the 12 Bills mentioned in the state’s writ petition have been disposed off on November 13 and as of November 16 only five Bills are under consideration.
On November 18, in a special session of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, the 10 Bills for which assent was withheld were reconsidered and passed. These Bills were sent to the Governor’s Secretariat on the same day. Since January 2020, as many as 181 Bills were received and 152 have received the governor’s assent.
‘No transparency’
On the proposals relating to the appointment of members of the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, the SC was informed that there was no transparency in the entire selection process. “As the government did not address the concerns of the governor in the manner of selection, the concerned proposal was returned on October 26. Currently, this matter is not pending in the office of the governor,” the apex court was informed.