NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday gave the Union government and the Kerala governor four days to respond to a petition by the Pinarayi Vijayan government accusing the governor of being deliberately inactive on giving assent to eight bills passed by the assembly.

A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra entertained the petition and asked the governor’s office and the Union government to respond to the Kerala government’s petition by Friday, when it will be taken up for further hearing.Already, the governments of Punjab and Tamil Nadu have moved the Supreme Court making similar allegations against their respective governors.
Appearing for the Kerala government, senior advocate K K Venugopal told the SC that of the eight bills, three were earlier promulgated as ordinances by the governor before these being converted to bills and passed by the assembly. “Now, he has been sitting over them for the last three years,” he said.On closer scrutiny, the court found these eight bills have been pending the governor’s assent for the last 7 to 23 months. Interestingly, the Kerala government has also challenged a high court order disposing of its 2022 petition seeking a declaration that the governor’s inaction on pending bills was arbitrary and unconstitutional. The Kerala HC had said, “Under parliamentary democracy, when the governor is left with discretion under Article 200 of the Constitution, it may not be appropriate for the courts to issue any direction to the governor of a state to exercise the discretion within a timeframe to be fixed by the court.”In its appeal, the state contended that such inaction of the governor defeated the very basis of federal structure of governance mandated under the Constitution and caused impediments for democratically elected state governments to carry out their legislative and administrative functions.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Cabinet on Monday gave its nod for convening a two-day assembly session on November 28 and 29. The move comes days after the governor prorogued the Budget session.
The governments of Punjab and Tamil Nadu have moved the Supreme Court making similar allegations against their respective governors.