SC’s advisory opinion offers mixed bag of opportunities for Kerala

The Supreme Court’s advisory opinion on the Presidential Reference on the apex court’s authority to impose timelines for the Governors and the President on the Bills sent to them by the State governments has come as a mixed bag of opportunities for the Kerala government.

While the fate of the Bills that were rejected by the President without assigning any reasons has been sealed, Kerala may be able to take up the case of Bills that are pending either with the Governor or President beyond a “reasonable time” based on the Court’s decision on limited judicial review in such cases, legal experts pointed out.

However, the Court’s finding that no timelines can be imposed on the President or Governors to decide on pending Bills has come as a setback for the State government.

Interestingly, the State government had earlier moved the Supreme Court seeking its intervention to interpret the phrase “as soon as possible” in the first proviso to Article 200 of the Constitution on the timeline applicable to the disposal of the Bills presented to the Governor. It had also sought guidelines on the circumstances under which the Governor may reserve Bills presented to him for the consideration of the President, withhold his assent or return it to the Legislative Assembly.

It was during the tenure of Arif Mohammed Khan as the Kerala Governor that the State took the crucial decision to raise legal challenges before the Supreme Court, as Mr. Khan sat on a few Bills passed by the State Assembly and later referred them to the President.

“The decision of the court offering limited judicial review for Bills that are pending before either the President or the Governor beyond a reasonable time has come as relief for the Kerala government,” said P. Rajeeve Minister for Law.

However, it was unfortunate that the court could not come up with a clear definition of the clause “as soon as possible.” Though the intention of the Constitution-makers, while incorporating the clause, was to suggest to the President and the Governors to act on the Bills without delay, some Presidents and Governors used the clause never to act on the Bills, he pointed out.