On Monday, the Supreme Court asked what the Governor of Tamil Nadu, R N Ravi was doing for three years and not disposing the 10 Bills. The SC bench consisted of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra. The Bench noted that there is no provision in the Constitution for the Governor to ‘withhold Bills re-passed by the State Legislative Assembly’.
“Mr Attorney, the Governor says he has disposed of these bills on November 13. Our concern is that our order was passed on November 10. These bills have been pending since January 2020. It means that the Governor took the decision after the Court issued notice. What was the Governor doing for three years? Why should the Governor wait for the parties to approach the Supreme Court?”, CJI DY Chandrachud asked Attorney General for India R Venkataramani as per Live Law. The Bench also observed, “The issue is not whether any particular Governor delayed but whether in general there has been a delay in exercising Constitutional functions.”
The Tamil Nadu Assembly has readopted the 10 Bills in a special session last week. The SC adjourned the hearing to December 1 as they await the Governor’s decision on these Bills.
It was in October that the Tamil Nadu government filed a petition in the SC against Governor R N Ravi over the delay in clearing bills. The petition read, “The present Writ Petition is being filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, to declare that the inaction, omission, delay, and failure to comply with the constitutional mandate by the Governor of Tamil Nadu and assent of the Bills passed and forwarded by the Tamil Nadu State Legislature to him and the non-consideration of files, Government orders and policies forwarded for his signature is unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary, unreasonable besides mala fide exercise of power.” The SC had called this ‘a matter of serious concern’.
