THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an unusual move that could initiate major legal debates, the Kerala government has approached the Supreme Court against President Droupadi Murmu withholding assent to four bills passed by the state assembly. The petition urged the court to declare the President not granting assent to the bills without assigning a reason as unconstitutional.
The state government has named the Union government, the secretary to the President of India, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan who referred the four bills to the President, and his additional secretary as respondents in the case.
The suit, filed through advocate CK Sasi, challenges the legality of the President’s action to withhold assent to the bills referred to her. It will also spark a constitutional debate on whether the President’s action comes under judicial review. The President’s secretary is the prime respondent in the suit filed by chief secretary V Venu and Perambra MLA T P Balakrishnan.
According to the state government, the governor should not have referred the bills to the President as they deal with matters falling in the state list of the Constitution. None of the seven bills had anything to do with Centre-state relations. They had been pending with the governor for about two years and his action “subverted” the functioning of the state legislature, rendering its very existence “ineffective and otiose”, it said.
“The bills include public interest bills which are for the public good, and even these have been rendered ineffective by the governor not dealing with each one of them ‘as soon as possible’ as required by the proviso to Article 200,” the plea said.
“The conduct of the governor in keeping bills pending for long and indefinite periods of time, and thereafter reserving the bills for the consideration of the President without any reasons relatable to the Constitution is manifestly arbitrary and violates Article 14 (equality before law) of the Constitution,” the plea said.
Equally, the aid and advice tendered by the Union of India to the president to withhold assent to the four bills, which are wholly within the domain of the state, while disclosing no reason whatsoever, is also manifestly arbitrary and violates Article 14.
“Additionally, the actions impugned defeat the rights of the people of the State of Kerala under Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution, by denying them the benefits of welfare legislation enacted by the State Assembly,” it said.
The plea said not dealing with the bills presented for assent for periods as long as 24 months, or seven months to 16 months, the governor has rendered ineffective and otiose the functioning of a limb of the State under the Constitution, the legislative assembly.
‘Ineffective and otiose’
According to the government, the governor should not have referred the bills to the President as they deal with matters falling in the state list of the Constitution. None of the seven bills had anything to do with Centre-state relations. They had been pending with the governor for about two years and his action “subverted” the functioning of the state legislature, rendering its very existence “ineffective and otiose”, it said.
