New Delhi: The Supreme Court has taken the issue of several Governors sitting on bills passed by the respective state assemblies extremely seriously.
On Monday, the country’s top court said that Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi’s delay in granting assent to bills pending before him since January 2020 is a matter of concern.
Ravi recently returned 10 bills, after which the state government convened a special Assembly session to readopt those bills.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud-headed three-judge bench expressed displeasure on the Governor only acting on pending bills after a November 10 order passed in the Punjab government case.
“Our concern is that our order was passed on November 10. These bills have been pending since January 2020. That means the Governor took the decision after the court issued notice. What was the Governor doing for three years? Why should he wait for the parties to approach the Supreme Court?” the Supreme Court observed.
The case was adjourned till December 1 after the state government informed the CJI-headed bench that the Assembly had re-adopted 10 bills on Saturday. The re-adopted bills have again been sent to the Governor for his assent.
A total of 15 bills, including those re-passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly, are pending before Governor Ravi.
The MK Stalin-headed Tamil Nadu government had approached the apex court alleging that Ravi had positioned himself as a ‘political rival’ to the state government.
The Tamil Nadu CM said on Saturday that Governor has been withholding the bills due to his “whims and fancies.”
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