Governors must decide on bills immediately, even 3-month timeline too long: Opposition states to SC

Bills sent to governors for clearance must be given assent by the “titular heads” immediately, Opposition-ruled states told the Supreme Court on Wednesday, The Hindu reported.

The governments of West Bengal, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh told a bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar that even the three-month deadline that the court had set in an April ruling may be too long.

Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh are ruled by the Congress, and West Bengal by the Trinamool Congress.

The bench has been hearing arguments on a reference made to the court by President Droupadi Murmu about its April 8 ruling that set timelines for governors and the president to grant assent to bills passed by legislatures.

In July, the court had issued notice to the Centre and all state governments on the reference.

At the hearing on Wednesday, the three states said that the will of the public, which the proposed laws manifest, cannot be sacrificed on the altar of the whims and fancies of governors.

They told the bench that governors not acting on bills was a “quiet disguise” for denying assent, The Hindu reported.

If the Union government wanted states to presume that a high constitutional authority such as the governor would act with integrity while dealing with bills,...

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