Hyderabad: Indicating unlocking of the logjam on pending bills with Raj Bhavan, solicitor general of India Tushar Mehta on Monday informed the Supreme Court that Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan has cleared three files and referred three to the President. Clearance for some was declined.
The bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Paridiwala, which resumed hearing in the plea filed by Telangana government against the governor on non-clearance of several bills, went through a report furnished by governor's secretary through the solicitor general.
State counsel told the apex court the three cleared bills were sent to the governor way back in September 2022. The CJI then asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta whether he can furnish a time frame for assent of remaining bills. Mehta, while expressing his inability to convey a time frame, assured the court he would lead appropriate deliberations. The last bill claimed to have been sent to the governor has not even been received by Raj Bhavan, Mehta said. While the state counsel sought the case to be posted after a week, the bench deferred it by two weeks to April 24.
Telangana's plea before the apex court filed through its chief secretary states: "Supreme Court in its judgment delivered in Samsher Singh case declared wherever the constitution required the satisfaction of the President or Governor, for exercise of any power or function, it was not in their personal satisfaction, but in the constitutional sense under the cabinet system of government".
It's clear even though the Governor may be authorized to exercise functions under different provisions of the constitution, the same is required to be exercised on the basis of advice under Article 163, unless Raj Bhavan has been authorized, by or under a constitutional provision, to discharge the function concerned in its own discretion, the CS said.
Article 200 is couched in mandatory language as it repeatedly uses the word "shall" thereby clearly suggesting the Governor must act as soon as possible to either grant assent or withhold the assent and return the bill as envisaged only on advice of council of ministers, the Telangana government plea states.
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