West Bengal Govt Moves Supreme Court Against Governor CV Ananda Bose

Kolkata: Opposition-led state governments have often been at loggerheads with Governors, leading to allegations and counter-charges against each other.

So much so that governments have not hesitated to even take their grievances to Supreme Court.

In the latest such ‘fight’, the Mamata Banerjee-headed West Bengal government on Friday approached the country’s top court accusing governor CV Ananda Bose of not approving eight bills.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud has agreed to consider an early hearing after lawyer Astha Sharma – who filed the petition on behalf of Bengal government – sought an urgent listing of the matter.

The petition claims eight bills passed since 2022 have been left without any action, and that the Raj Bhavan’s delay is affecting the welfare of people, ANI reported.

Alleging that the Governor has withheld assent under Article 200 of the Constitution without valid reasons, the West Bengal government argued that it was compelled to approach the apex court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, citing a constitutional crisis caused by the Governor’s actions and inactions regarding eight key bills.

The eight bills in question are — West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022; West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2022; West Bengal Private University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022; West Bengal Krishi Viswavidyalaya Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022; West Bengal University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2022; Aliah University (Amendment) Bill, 2022; West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and Development) (Amendment) Bill, 2023; and West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

“The conduct of the Governor not only threatens to defeat and subvert the very fundamentals and basic foundation of our Constitution, including the rule of law and democratic good governance, but further proceeds to infringe upon the rights of the people of the State to the welfare measures sought to be implemented through the bills, thereby leading to the state failing in its duties as the parens patriae,” the petition stated, and urged the court to issue appropriate directions to the Governor to dispose of all pending bills, files, and government orders forwarded by the State Legislative Assembly and government within a specified timeframe.

In recent months, Tamil Nadu and Punjab governments moved the top court against their respective Governors R Ravi and Banwari Lal Purohit.