The Supreme Court on Monday asked the West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose to file reply to a PIL claiming his alleged inaction on giving assent to Bills passed by the state Assembly.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala issued notice to the West Bengal Governor and sought response within four weeks.
Such petitions have been moved by Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Telangana in recent times. Earlier, Telangana had moved the apex court seeking directions to then Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to give her assent to several Bills pending with her.
In the view of rise in such cases, the apex court in April 2023 urged Governors across states to remember the mandate under Article 200 of the Constitution which casts a duty on them to clear bills “as soon as possible.”
In November 2023, the top court pulled up Governor RN Ravi for withholding assent to 12 bills passed by the Tamil Nadu State Assembly.
Just a few weeks back the Supreme Court slammed RN Ravi for defying court orders. On March 21, the bench headed by CJI came down heavily on the Tamil Nadu Governor Ravi while hearing the state government’s plea against his refusal to swear in Thiru K. Ponmudi as a Minister in the state cabinet even after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in connection with a disproportionate assets case.
The CJI DY Chandrachud while hearing the case took strong exception to the Governor’s conduct and said, “we are seriously concerned about the conduct of the Governor in this case. We did not want to say it out loud in court but you are now constraining us to say that aloud. This is not the way. He is defying the Supreme Court of India. When a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court stays a conviction, the Governor has no business to tell us that this does not wipe off the conviction and it is non-existent.”
The top court asked the Tamil Nadu Governor to rethink his decision overnight. The governor then corrected course and On March 22, informed the top court he had thought through the affair and decided to invite Ponmudy to be sworn in as minister.
