TN Governor versus DMK Government over Bills: Supreme Court reserves verdict

The Supreme Court on Monday wondered how the governor could refer re-passed Bills to the President as it reserved its verdict on Tamil Nadu Government’s petition against the Governor for sitting on Bills passed by the state Assembly.

“We are reserving judgment. We will pass appropriate directions,” a Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan said after completion of arguments by senior counsel AM Singhvi for the Tamil Nadu Government and Attorney General R Venkataramani for the Governor.

Venkataramani sought to defend the Governor’s actions, saying he had not acted beyond his jurisdiction in withholding assent to Bills and referring them to the President as he found them to be repugnant to laws enacted by Parliament.

Once the Bills were re-enacted in a special session by the Tamil Nadu assembly, was it right for the Governor to send some of the re-passed bills to the President for reconsideration, the Bench sought to know.

“The Governor has the discretion to send it to the President even after the bills were re-enacted because the bills were repugnant. Once the bills were with the President, Article 254 came into play, and the bills ceased to exist,” Venkataramani told the Bench.

“Good governance required the Governor to communicate the reasons for withholding assent,” Singhvi submitted.

Amid the ongoing tussle between Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi and the DMK government over the former sitting over Bills passed by the state Assembly, the Supreme Court had on Friday said the Governor couldn’t simply sit over Bills based on perception of repugnancy with a central law, without communicating his opinion.

“If the Governor feels that the Bills are repugnant (to a central law), shouldn’t he tell the (state) government immediately? How is the government expected to know what is in the mind of the Governor?” the Bench had asked the Attorney General.

“If repugnancy is something that troubled the Governor, then the Governor should have immediately brought it to the notice of the government, which (read the Assembly) could have reconsidered the said Bills,” it had noted.