Kerala to approach SC over Governor sitting over bills

The Kerala government plans to approach the Supreme Court against governor Arif Mohammed Khan for not signing the eight bills passed by the state legislative assembly, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.

The chief minister said that the government is intends to seek the service of senior advocate KK Venugopal.

There has been major face-off between the Kerala state government and governor related to the bills and the university appointments. Now this move from the state’s side is most likely to trigger another row between the governor and the government.

“The 8 Bills passed by the State Assembly after detailed deliberations were submitted to the Governor for approval under Article 200 of the Constitution. Even after a long period of time, these bills have not become law. It is not in keeping with the essence of parliamentary democracy in a parliamentary democratic system to delay bills passed by the legislature, which reflect the will of the people, from becoming laws,” Vijayan said.

The chief minister noted that concerned ministers, officials had visited the governor and as per his request, they gave him explanations and clarifications. Even after that, no decision has been taken on these bills, Vijayan added.

The CM said that currently, governments in other states including Telangana and Tamil Nadu are also facing such problems. In fact, the Telangana government has raised this issue with Supreme Court as well.