Supreme Court Allows Kerala Govt To Withdraw Petitions Challenging Governor's Inaction On Bills; Rejects Centre's Objection
The Supreme Court today(July 25) allowed the State of Kerala to withdraw the two petitions filed by it n 2023 against the Kerala Governor over the delay in granting assent to the bills passed by the legislative assembly.
A bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice AS Chandurkar passed the order rejecting the objections raised by the Centre to the State's bid to withdraw the matters.
Today, Senior Advocate KK Venugopal, for the State, reiterated his submission that the State wanted to simply withdraw the petitions.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta suggested that the State's petitions could be tagged along with the President's reference on the issue of timelines for Governors to act on Bills, which is now before a Constitution Bench. However, Venugopal opposed, asking, "how can withdrawal be tagged? Constitution Bench will be surprised."
Attorney General for India R Venkataramani then submitted, "the judgment under reference, the Tamil Nadu case, is what is being relied upon." "I am not relying upon anything. I am withdrawing it," Venugopal retorted.
AG continued, "It is not that they are withdrawing it simplicitor because they don't want to pursue this issue. The judgment in the Tamil Nadu case is being relied upon by them. Then I may have a point in saying, let the matter be heard and also in saying that judgment, for a number of reasons, may be referred to a larger bench. But there is a presidential reference now. So why should it be allowed to be withdrawn? There are two earlier references, 1996 and 2011 where pending writ petitions were heard along with the references."
"I am unable to understand [objection to withdrawal]," Venugopal stated.
Justice Narasimha also indicated that the petitioner cannot be prevented from withdrawing. "They want to withdraw it. If they were asking us to dispose of the petitions in terms of the judgment, that is a different issue," he said. "I am not asking so. I am withdrawing it," Venugopal clarified.
"Is it not implied [that they want to rely upon the judgment]?" AG asked, repeating that the State was keen on pursuing on the issue.
Ultimately, the bench allowed the withdrawal. AG said that the withdrawal should be unconditional. Venugopal clarified that it is unconditional.
Advocate General K Gopalakrishna Kurup and Standing Counsel CK Sasi also appeared for the State.
On the previous hearing date as well [July 14], the Union had objected to the State of Kerala's plea to withdraw the two petitions.
However, Attorney General and Solicitor General had opposed the State's plea for withdrawal. They requested the bench to await the Court's decision on the reference made by the President under Article 143 of the Constitution on questions related to granting assent to bills. But this made Justice Narasimha wonder if the Court can prevent a litigant from withdrawing a petition, being the "dominus litigant."
Now, the Presidential reference hearing has begun, in which the notice was issued to Union and all States on Tuesday. The hearing will begin mid-August.
The petitions which were listed today were - a writ petition filed by the State in 2023 against the Governor's delay in clearing the bills, and a special leave petition filed by the State against the Kerala High Court dismissing a PIL filed by a person for guidelines to the Governor on timely clearing of bills.
Background
The State filed the writ petition in 2023 before the Supreme Court, challenging the Governor's action in sitting over Bills, concerning amendments to laws concerning State Universities and Cooperative Societies, for several months, ranging from 7 months to 24 months.
After the writ petition was filed and notice was issued on November 20, 2023, the Governor reportedly referred seven Bills to the President. On November 29, 2023, the Court criticised the Governor for his inaction. The then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud stated that the "power of the Governor cannot be utilised to pause the law-making exercise of the legislature," while referring to another judgment passed in the Punjab Governor matter (November 23, 2023) in which a three-judge bench held that Governor does not have veto powers in withholding assent in regards to the Bills.
On February 29, 2024, the President withheld assent from four Bills while approving the other three, against which the State argued that no reasoning was given by the President for rejection. Challenging the President's withholding of assent as well as the Governor's reference to the President, the State filed another writ petition in March 2024 (which was not listed today).
In an earlier hearing, the Attorney General and Solicitor General both took a stand that the Tamil Nadu Governor matter does not cover the present case.
Case Title: THE STATE OF KERALA AND ANR. v. HONBLE GOVERNOR FOR STATE OF KERALA AND ORS.|W.P.(C) No. 1264/2023 and THE STATE OF KERALA AND ANR. v. P.V.JEEVESH AND ORS|Diary No. 46812-2023