Telangana Tells SC Governors Can’t Sit on Bills Forever
The top court is hearing a Presidential reference on whether the court could impose timelines for governors and the President to deal with bills passed by assemblies
New Delhi: The Telangana government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the Governor is ordinarily bound by the aid and advice of the council of ministers, including while dealing with the grant of prosecution sanction, except in cases where a minister or the chief minister is personally involved in a criminal matter.
Appearing before a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, senior advocate Niranjan Reddy argued that the apex court, while examining the Presidential reference, must also consider the inherent bias in governors' "sitting over" Bills passed by Assemblies.
Reddy cited the example of Tamil Nadu, where the Governor withheld action on a Bill passed by the Assembly seeking to strip the office of the Governor of the power to act as chancellor of state-run universities. He said that under Article 200, particularly the second proviso, the Governor is not ordinarily vested with discretion and must act on ministerial advice.
The bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, P.S. Narasimha and A.S. Chandurkar, is hearing the Presidential reference on whether courts can impose timelines on Governors and the President in dealing with Bills passed by state legislatures.
Article 200 allows the Governor to assent to, withhold, return, or reserve Bills passed by Assemblies for the President's consideration. On Tuesday, the bench observed that Governors are expected to act within a "reasonable time" even if the expression "as soon as possible" was not expressly stated in the provision.
Senior advocates from several Opposition-ruled states, including Punjab, Kerala, and Karnataka, also presented their arguments. While Punjab's counsel Arvind Datar suggested a three-month timeline for assent, Kerala's K.K. Venugopal noted that former Governor Arif Mohammad Khan followed a practice of seeking briefings from ministries before acting on Bills. Karnataka argued that both the President and Governors are "titular heads," constitutionally bound to act on Cabinet advice.
The Supreme Court is examining 14 questions referred by President Droupadi Murmu under Article 143(1), including whether constitutional authorities can indefinitely withhold assent to Bills and whether judicially mandated timelines can be imposed. Hearings are set to conclude soon.
