In response to the Kerala government’s appeal against the governor’s delay in making a decision on eight bills, the Supreme Court sent a notice to the Center.
In response to the Kerala government’s appeal against the governor’s inability to make a decision on eight laws that have been before him for terms ranging from seven months to two years, the Supreme Court on Monday sent a notice to the Center.
Kerala government’s appeal against the governor in Supreme Court:
The case was continued on Friday by a bench consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
The Kerala government filed a case in the highest court, alleging that Governor Arif Mohammed Khan was “defeating the rights of the people” by taking his time to sign the measures that the parliament had passed.
It has accused the governor of being indifferent to eight bills that the Kerala legislature has passed, claiming that many of these bills are of great public interest and call for welfare measures that the people of the southern state will be denied, causing a significant delay.
In fulfillment of its parens patriae duty to its citizens, the state of Kerala, the petitioner, requests appropriate orders from this court regarding the state governor’s inaction regarding up to eight bills that the state legislature has passed and presented to him for his signature in accordance with Article 200 of the Constitution.
Three measures out of these have been pending with the governor for longer than two years, and three more have been over a year. In addition to undermining the state’s citizens’ rights to the welfare measures proposed for implementation through the bills, the governor’s actions, as will currently be shown, threaten to undermine and overthrow the very core principles of our Constitution, such as the rule of law and democratic good governance, according to the Kerala government’s petition.
The state administration has argued that by allowing the measures to languish for extended periods of time—three of which have beyond two years—the governor is gravely unfairly treating both the people of the state and its representative democratic institutions.
It appears that the Arif Mohammed Khan thinks he has ultimate say over when to decide on measures, including whether or not to sign them into law. This is a complete subversion of the Constitution, it has submitted.
The argument claimed that the governor’s actions, which include allowing the measures to languish for extended periods of time, are blatantly arbitrary and in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.