New Delhi: Expressing anguish over governors' acting on bills passed by legislative assemblies only after the state government moved courts, the Supreme Court on Monday observed that such trends must stop.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, also comprising Justice J B Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra, made these oral submissions while hearing a writ petition filed by the State of Punjab aggrieved by the inaction of Governor Banwarilal Purohit on seven bills.
The bench directed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to place an updated status report on the action taken by the Governor.
"...A little bit of soul searching is needed by governors and they must know that they are not elected representatives of people.
"The SG says the Punjab governor has taken action and an updated status report will be placed in a few days. Let the plea be listed on Friday and let the court be apprised of the action taken by the governor," the bench said.
"We are the oldest democracy and these issues must be sorted between the CM and the Governor," CJI said.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate and former Attorney General for India K K Venugopal mentioned a similar petition filed by Kerala against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan. "The Governor does not take action on the bills that have been passed for the welfare of the people. And after reports were published about the state filing the petition, he says he will see it in the court," Venugopal said requesting the bench to post Kerala's petition on Friday.
The bench agreed to post the petitions filed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu on Friday along with Punjab's petition.
(With inputs from PTI, Live Law)
