Kerala’s Bill Approval Delay Case: Supreme Court Hearing Set for May 6

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is set to hear a case from the Kerala government on May 6, 2023, about the governor’s delay in approving laws passed by the state assembly. A group of judges, including Justices P S Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi, noticed that a lawyer for the Kerala government, K K Venugopal, mentioned a previous important ruling related to Tamil Nadu. This old ruling had guidelines about how quickly governors and the President should respond to laws. Venugopal asked about how long it should take for the governor to refer a law to the President, and the judges said they would check this previous ruling to see if it relates to Kerala’s case.

The Attorney General and Solicitor General, representing the central government and the Kerala governor, disagreed with Venugopal, stating there were some differences between the cases. Earlier, on April 8, another bench of judges decided on Tamil Nadu’s case, saying it was wrong for the President to delay decisions on certain laws reserved for her review. They told the President she must make a decision within three months of receiving them, and Kerala wants the same rules to apply to its situation.

Last year, on July 26, the Supreme Court agreed to look into Kerala’s complaint about the governor not approving laws passed by the state assembly. The Kerala government claimed that former Governor Arif Mohammed Khan sent some bills to President Droupadi Murmu, and they have not yet been approved. The Supreme Court took notice of this and sent notices to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the secretaries for the Kerala governor to respond.