The bills Khan refused to nod to include the Lok Ayukta Amendment Bill and two different University Acts Amendment Bills.
The Kerala government on Thursday said it had filed a complaint in the Supreme Court against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan’s action for not signing certain bills passed by the state legislature as he was not fulfilling of its constitutional functions.
State Law Minister P Rajeev said the state legislature had passed bills after lengthy deliberations and in accordance with rules and hence withholding them indefinitely was “unconstitutional and undemocratic “.
“As soon as a bill is passed, the governor must act in accordance with the provisions of Article 200 of the Constitution,” he said, adding that this provision was not complied with by Khan for some projects of law.
The bills Khan refused to nod to include the Lok Ayukta Amendment Bill and two different University Acts Amendment Bills.
Speaking to reporters here, Rajeev said even the Supreme Court has observed that bills passed by the legislature should not be held indefinitely and a decision should be taken on them “as soon as possible”.
The governor, however, has refused to approve certain bills for almost two years now, he said.
The minister said the governor could have sent the bills back to the assembly with his concerns and the assembly would have decided to make amendments or re-pass them without any changes.
“As the governor is not fulfilling his constitutional obligations with regard to the bills passed by the legislature, the government has decided to approach the Supreme Court against this,” the minister said.
At the same time, the minister also said that this was not a dispute between the government and the governor.
He said the plea before the Supreme Court concerns the constitutional relationship between the state Legislature and the governor.
Khan, on several occasions in the past, claimed that he had refused to approve certain bills because his questions regarding these pieces of legislation had not yet been addressed by the ruling Left government.
He had claimed that as the respective ministers who had proposed the bills were not able to answer his questions, he had asked Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan to clarify the doubts.
As no clarification came from the CM, the bills remained unsigned, Khan had said.
He had asserted that it was the constitutional duty of the chief minister to inform him regularly.
On this aspect, Rajeev said the CM was only required to inform the governor about the legislative proposals of the state cabinet and not the laws.
If the governor wanted to send it to the president, it could have been done now because some bills have been waiting for approval for almost two years, the minister said.
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