The Supreme Court on Tuesday entertained a plea by the Punjab government questioning the long delay of over a year by the President to clear two state bills that were referred to it last year by the governor without giving any reasons, and issued a notice to the Centre. SC notice to Centre on Punjab plea over delay in clearing bills

Stating that its case is covered by the recent judgment of the top court in the Tamil Nadu case laying down timelines of three months for both the governor and President to act on bills presented for its consent, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government urged the court to either direct the governor to follow the law in the Tamil Nadu case or hold the governor’s action to be illegal and treat the bills to be passed with “deemed” consent.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai and justice Vinod K Chandran said that the issue raised in the petition will have to await the outcome of the Presidential reference where the validity of the findings contained in the April 8 judgment in the Tamil Nadu case has been questioned.

Senior advocate Shadan Farasat appearing for the state along with advocate Nupur Kumar said, “This petition can await the proceedings in the presidential reference. But notice can go in he meantime.” The bench issued notice on the petition. The state government has even made the principal secretary to the Punjab Governor and secretary, Punjab Legislative Assembly as respondents in the petition.

The petition filed by the Punjab government flagged two constitutional questions on the action of the governor in referring the bill to the President. It questioned whether the governor was right to act on his discretion to refer the matter to President without giving reasons or in contravention to the aid and advice of the state council of ministers which binds him. And second, the manner in which the President is supposed to act once a bill has been forwarded for consideration by the governor of a state.

The state said that the Governor’s referral of both bills to the President was without any constitutional or legal basis, and further, going by the judgment in the Tamil Nadu case, the President’s inaction beyond the prescribed three month period is violative of the top court’s decision.

The two bills referred by the state include the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 referred to the President in July 2024 and the Sikh Gurudwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 pending with the President since January 2024.

The petition filed through advocate Nupur Kumar said, “Despite the passage of these extended periods, no decision granting assent or providing reasons for withholding it has been communicated to the petitioner state, nor have any reasons been furnished for the delay, despite representations being made by the chief minister to the Union Home Minister.”

Such prolonged and unexplained inaction is in direct contravention of several directions by the top court requiring the Governor to decide on the bills “as soon as possible” under exercise of power contained in Article 200 of the Constitution.

The state further claimed that while referring the bills to Presidents, governor has not given reasons “If such inaction by the Central Government is permitted, then, the entire legislative scheme under the Indian Constitution will collapse. An elected Government comes to power enjoying the confidence of the legislature for a limited period. Therefore, if the Central Government, in effect, exercises a pocket veto on the legislative agenda of the government, their entire agenda will simply collapse…This completely defeats the demarcation of legislative powers between the Centre and state,” it said.

The petition thus urged the court to issue directions to “Issue a writ of mandamus that The Sikh Gurudwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which have been kept pending by the Hon’ble Governor, be processed in accordance with law forthwith and, if necessary, by way of deemed consent.”

The court directed the matter to be taken up for hearing after two months.