NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday took strong exception to Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan sitting on the bills cleared by the state assembly. While the court clearly expressed its displeasure over the governor’s inaction on the bills for nearly two years, it refused to intervene in his powers.
Out of eight pending bills, Khan had granted assent to one bill on Tuesday and referred seven bills to the President. The bench headed by Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud said it did not see any reason why the governor should keep the bills pending for an inordinate period of time.
“What was the governor doing for two years by sitting on the bills?” asked the bench, also comprising judges J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the governor, said he does not wish to go into detail because it will open a Pandora’s box.
“We will get into it very much,” the bench shot back, and allowed the Kerala government to amend its plea seeking guidelines for governors to decide on bills in a time-bound manner. The bench reiterated its recent judgment on a similar case filed by the Punjab government against its governor, that the governor’s powers can’t be misused to thwart the normal course of lawmaking by the legislature. The SC also observed that political sagacity seems to be lacking, adding it wouldn’t hesitate to lay down the guidelines as to when the bills can be reserved for presidential assent.