The Kerala government will approach the courts to get the Bills that are pending with either the President or the Governor passed, after waiting for a “reasonable time” as indicated in a Supreme Court advisory.
In its recent advisory opinion on a Presidential Reference on the judiciary’s authority to impose timelines for the Governors and the President on the State Bills sent to them, the Supreme Court had indicated that only a limited judicial review was possible on such Bills pending beyond a reasonable time.
However, the State government may have to be clear on when to initiate legal action, as the Supreme Court did not elaborate on the ‘reasonable time’ in the advisory, legal sources pointed out.
Some of the Bills pending with the President include the University Laws (Amendment) Bill 2025 and the Kerala State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Bill 2025. The State government had sent two Bills, the Wildlife Protection (Kerala Amendment) Bill 2025 and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Kerala Amendment) Bill, to the President as the State legislation on concurrent subjects required the President’s approval, sources said.
The Bills that await the Kerala Governor’s nod include the ones recently passed by the State Assembly, especially the Kerala Forest (Amendment) Bill, 2025, the University Laws Amendment Bills, the Kerala Excess Land in Private Holding (Regularisation) Bill, 2025 and the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, sources said.
“The Kerala government will seek legal remedy if the Bills are not cleared after a reasonable time,” said P. Rajeeve, State Minister for Law.
Case-by-case basis
The State may have to decide on a reasonable time for every Bill on a case-by-case basis. There was no legal requirement for the Governor to send the Private Universities Bill to the President for her approval, as several such universities have been established across the country, especially in States governed by the BJP, he said.
The State government has not yet received any formal communication from Raj Bhavan regarding the decision of the Governor to send the Private Universities Bill to the President. It was from media reports that the government came to know about it, he said.
Nature of Bill
Meanwhile, judicial sources indicated that the advisory opinion of the Supreme Court carried much weight as a statement of the law made by a Constitution Bench of the court. The reasonable time, as mentioned in the opinion, would depend on the facts in each case. The question whether the time taken by a Governor is reasonable or not will depend upon the nature of the Bill, the nature of the doubt entertained by the Governor, and the length of time taken by him to take appropriate action. The estimation of time shall start from the day on which the Bill was submitted for approval, judicial sources indicated.
Published – November 23, 2025 09:12 pm IST
