The Kerala government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it intends to withdraw its petitions against the governor’s delay in acting on bills passed by the Assembly in view of a recent judgement laying down a timeline for the Tamil Nadu governor to act on such bills, The Hindu reported.

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a petition filed by Kerala in 2023 against the delay by Arif Mohammed Khan, the state’s governor at the time, in clearing bills. It was also hearing a second petition filed in 2024 against President Droupadi Murmu’s decision to withhold her assent to bills referred to her.

“Both the petitions are infructuous,” Bar and Bench quoted Advocate KK Venugopal, representing the Kerala government, telling the bench. “We will be withdrawing both of them.”

Noting that the court’s April 8 judgement in the matter pertaining to the Tamil Nadu governor also applied to Kerala, Venugopal added that the governor had referred the bills to the president.

However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Union government, opposed the withdrawal of the petitions.

“These are constitutional issues,” Bar and Bench quoted Mehta as saying. “It cannot be filed lightly and withdrawn lightly. We are working on the issues involved.”

Venugopal said that both the attorney general and solicitor general opposing a withdrawal was “strange”, Bar and Bench reported. “When a person of your stature withdraws even withdrawal has to be taken seriously,” Mehta said in response.

The court recognised that Kerala was entitled to withdraw the case, The Hindu reported. However, it posted the matter for further hearing on May 13.

The court’s ruling on April 8 came on a petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government after Governor RN Ravi did not act on several bills for over three years before rejecting them and sending some to the president.

Most of the bills related to higher education, including measures to remove the governor as chancellor of state universities. Of the 10 re-enacted bills sent to the president in November 2023, one was approved, seven were rejected and two were pending.

The court held that Ravi’s decision to withhold assent to 10 bills, some of which were pending since January 2020, and refer them to the president after they were re-enacted by the Assembly was “illegal and erroneous”.

The court declared that the 10 bills would be deemed to have received the governor’s assent from the date they were passed a second time by the legislature. It also set aside any action taken by the president based on the governor’s reference.

In its 414-page judgement, the court also imposed a three-month deadline on the president to approve or reject such bills.

During the previous hearing on April 22 on Kerala’s petitions, the Union government told the court that its April 8 recent judgement laying down a timeline would not apply to the case filed by the state.

However, Venugopal argued that the verdict in the matter covered Kerala’s case too.

Also read: