NEW DELHI: Governor of Tamil Nadu R N Ravi reserving 11 bills for the President’s consideration, allegedly in defiance of the cautionary notes sounded by the Supreme Courtevoked a strong reaction from a CJI-led bench on Friday which asked, “Can the governor withhold assent to bills for years to kill the legislation?”
Appearing for the DMK government in Tamil Nadu, senior advocate A M Singhvi and P Wilson informed the bench of CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra that after the SC issued notice on the state government’s petition against delaying tactics by the governor, the latter returned the bills on November 13, which were re-passed by the assembly on November 18.
Appearing for the DMK government in Tamil Nadu, senior advocate A M Singhvi and P Wilson informed the bench of CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra that after the SC issued notice on the state government’s petition against delaying tactics by the governor, the latter returned the bills on November 13, which were re-passed by the assembly on November 18.
The governor referred all the 10 bills as well as one pending with him since January 2020 for the President’s consideration on November 28, Singhvi said.
He cited the SC’s recent order relating to similar actions by the Punjab governor in which the court had ruled that only three options were available to the governor – grant of assent to a bill, withholding assent and granting it once the bill was re-passed by the assembly, and reserving it for the President’s consideration. “He cannot reserve a bill, which has been re-passed by the assembly for the President’s consideration,” Singhvi argued.