THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Supreme Court's landmark ruling that the governors cannot indefinitely sit on bills sent by the state legislative assemblies for assent and are bound to act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers has been welcomed by Kerala political leaders.
CM Pinarayi Vijayan said the verdict upheld the federal structure and democratic rights of the legislative assemblies. "This verdict is also a warning against the trend of governors usurping the powers of the legislative assemblies and hence it's a victory of democracy as well. We had a situation where the bills passed by the assembly were withheld for up to 23 months. We are fighting a legal battle against it," he remarked.
Law Minister P Rajeeve said the SC verdict upheld the essence of the constitution. "The SC verdict has upheld the essence of the constitution. During the discussions in the Constituent Assembly, the limited role of the governor was clearly mentioned by Dr B R Ambedkar himself. The SC verdict came at a time our two cases on similar matters are being under its consideration. The SC has set a time frame for the governors to take a decision on the bills and that's a big thing. I feel the verdict has a direct bearing in one of our cases," he said.
CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam went on step further and mentioned the verdict as a slap to the Modi government, which he accused of using governors as an apparatus to stall the functioning of the state governments and the assemblies.
"The mark of this slap will remain in the faces of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah for long. The SC has reminded the government that it can only act under the ambit of law. Modi government won't learn a lesson from this. It's a fascist government and hence won't understand the language of the verdict. However, the verdict in the future will become a tool in the hands of people, who will fight to protect democracy,"
N K Premachandran MP termed the SC verdict as a historical one. "It has clearly mentioned the extent of powers the governors enjoy. Assemblies uphold the will of the people and not giving assent to the laws passed by them is unconstitutional," N K Premachandran MP said.