Delay in signing bills: Kerala moves second plea, requests SC to make Governor party in case

New Delhi: The Kerala government has once again filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan for delaying the decision on the bills passed by the Assembly. The second petition filed by the State a week after the first plea requests the court to make the Governor a party in the case.

The Special Leave Petition has been filed by the State's Chief Secretary and Law Secretary against a 2022 High Court ruling that rejected a petition against the Governor's decision to withhold bills indefinitely. According to the state government's petition, the Governor is doing gross injustice to the people and the members of the assembly by delaying the decision on the bills.

Earlier, the Kerala government had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court alleging that the Governor was delaying the decision on the bills passed by the state assembly and thereby denying the rights of the people. The petition states that the Governor has not taken a decision on the 8 bills passed by the Assembly and that this action is unconstitutional. Chief Secretary V Venu and Perampra MLA TP Ramakrishnan are the petitioners. The opposite parties are the Governor, Raj Bhavan Additional Chief Secretary and the Central Government.

The Supreme Court has strongly criticized the Governors' delay in taking decisions on the bills passed by the legislatures. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said that Governors should stop the practice of taking decisions only after the state governments have approached the court and should remember the fact that they are not elected by the people. The Supreme Court's verbal remarks came while hearing a petition filed by the Punjab government accusing Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit of creating administrative deadlock by not taking decisions on 7 bills.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan recently said he would give his assent to the pending bills only if Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan met him and explained the rationale behind the bills.