The Kerala government has approached the Supreme Court for a second time against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, this time over a state High Court order that declined to fix a timeline for the governor to clear Bills. Earlier this month, the state had filed a writ petition in the top court claiming inaction by the governor in relation to eight Bills passed by the Assembly. The Kerala High Court, in an order dated November 30, 2022, had disposed of a petition which sought a declaration that the governor’s action in withholding assent to Bills “indefinitely” is “arbitrary”. It said: “Even under a parliamentary democracy, when the Hon'ble Governor is left with discretion under Article 200 of the Constitution of India, it may not be appropriate for the courts to issue any direction to the Governor of a State to exercise the discretion within a time frame to be fixed by the Court.” Challenging this order, Kerala government’s plea sought appropriate orders from the SC “in relation to the inaction on the part of the… Governor of the State in relation to as many as 8 Bills passed by the State Legislature and presented to the Governor for his assent under Article 200 of the Constitution”. It said that “of these, 3 Bills have remained pending with the Governor for more than 2 years, and 3 more in excess of a full year”. Five of these relate to university laws. The state contended that “the conduct of the Governor… threatens to defeat and subvert the very fundamentals and basic foundations of our Constitution, including the rule of law and democratic good governance, apart from defeating the rights of the people of the State to the welfare measures sought to be implemented through the Bills”. With a similarly-worded November 2 plea, Kerala had become the third state after Tamil Nadu and Punjab to move the Supreme Court against its governor. Hearing a plea by the Punjab government, which said that Governor Banwarilal Purohit had kept seven Bills pending, the Supreme Court had on November 6 said that governors “must act” before a matter reaches the court. “Why do parties have to come to the SC? The Governors must act before it comes to the SC. Only after they come to the SC, the Governors start acting. This has to stop,” Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud who presided over the bench, which included Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said. The Tamil Nadu government, too, has approached the SC against Governor R N Ravi over the question of pending bills. In the appeal before the top court, the Kerala government said: “A Governor who acts in gross disregard and violation of the provisions of the Constitution cannot be said to be functioning in discharge of his duties as a Governor, since no Governor is entitled to violate the provisions of the Constitution, whether through his action or inaction”. It added that the Governor’s action is “manifestly arbitrary and violates Article 14 of the Constitution” and “defeats the rights of the people of the State of Kerala under Article 21 of the Constitution”.
