ASSENT TO BILL BY GOVERNOR - POLITY
News: Telangana
Govt. vs Governor | Supreme Court to hear on March 20 State’s plea over delay
in giving assent to Bills passed by legislature
What's in the news?
● The
Supreme Court agreed to urgently hear a petition filed by Telangana Government
against Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for creating a “constitutional impasse” by refusing to act on several Bills passed
by the State legislature.
Key takeaways:
● Telangana
urged the court to “declare that the inaction, omission and failure to comply
with the constitutional mandate qua the assent of the Bills by the Governor is
highly irregular, illegal”.
State Government's Petition:
● In
a parliamentary democracy, the Governor
has no discretion to delay necessary assent as required on the Bills. Any
refusal on the part of the Governor, including delay, will defeat parliamentary
democracy and will of the people.
● The
Bill must be returned together with a message requesting the Houses to
reconsider it or any provisions in it and rethink the desirability of
introducing any such amendments,” the petition highlighted Article 200 of the
Constitution.
● The Governor would not
withhold assent once the Houses reiterate the amendments.
● The
State trained the spotlight on how under Article 163 the Governor is not
“expected to act independently”.
● The
petition said that “the Governor is required to exercise his functions or any
of them in his discretion only on the aid and advice of the Council of
Ministers with the Chief Minister heading it”.
Article 200:
● Article
200 deals with the Governor’s function in passing a Bill of the state
legislature.
● Under
Article 200 of the Indian Constitution, the Governor may
○ grant
assent
○ withhold
assent
○ return
for reconsideration by the Legislature or
○ reserve
for the consideration of the President any Bill passed by the State legislature
and presented to him for assent.
● There
is no time frame fixed in the
Constitution for any of these functions.
Money Bills and Article 200:
● Article
200 enables the Governor to return a Bill, that is not a Money Bill, with a
message requesting the House, or Houses, if there is an upper chamber, to
reconsider the Bill, or any provisions, and also consider introducing
amendments he may recommend.
● The
House will have to reconsider as suggested. If the Bill is passed again, with or without changes, and presented for
assent, “the Governor shall not withhold assent therefrom”.
Powers of High Court and Article 200:
● The
Governor shall reserve for the
consideration of the President any Bill which in the opinion of the
Governor would, if it became law, so derogate from the powers of the High Court
as to endanger the position which that Court is by this Constitution designed
to fill.
Interpretation of Article 200:
● The
Governor does not have discretion on matters of the Assembly and is bound to follow the advice of the
ministerial Council even on matters where he/she might be withholding assent.
Going by this interpretation, the Governor will now have to grant his assent to
the Bill under question as mandated by Article 200 of the Constitution.
● The
framers of the Constitution envisaged such a provision to accommodate any of the following situations:
○ When
the Council of Ministers feels that a Bill has been hastily adopted or that it requires changes, the Council may want
to recall its Bill, and accordingly advise the Governor to return it.
○ If
after a Bill is passed the Ministers resign before the Bill gets the Governor’s
assent, the new Ministry may not
want to go ahead with the Bill and might advise against assent being given.
This was also noted by the Sarkaria Commission on Union-State Relations.
Article 201:
● Article
201 of the Indian Constitution deals with provisions related to bills reserved for the consideration of the
President.
● As
per Article 201, when a Bill is reserved by a Governor for the consideration of
the President, the President shall declare either that he assents to the Bill
or that he withholds assent therefrom.
● The
President may also direct the Governor to return the Bill, where the Bill is
not a Money Bill, with a message.
● When
a Bill is so returned, the House or Houses shall reconsider it accordingly
within a period of six months from the date of receipt of such message and, if
it is again passed by the House or Houses with or without amendment, it shall
be presented again to the President.
● There
is no timeframe mentioned for the
above provisions.
Interpretation of Article 201:
● Unlike
Article 200 which explicitly mentions that the Governor shall not withhold
assent after a suggested reconsideration of the bill, Article 201 has no such
provisions mentioned.
● This
means that the Bill will become law if the assent is given, but nothing can be
done if the Bill is denied assent by the President or if he makes no decision.