When the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government moves the Supreme Court against governor Banwarilal Purohit for the second time this year for withholding money Bills, it will be taking the pretext of the SC’s observation in a similar case filed by the K Chandrashekar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi government Telangana in April.
Punjab is set to file a petition on October 30 when the Supreme Court reopens after the Dussehra vacation. “We have prepared a case and will file it when the court opens. We will request an urgent hearing as the governor can’t create an impasse to stall the working of the assembly,” said Gurminder Singh, the advocate general of Punjab.
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Punjab will be relying on the April 25 Supreme Court observation on the petition of the Telangana government, which had moved the SC against its governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for not clearing the Bills passed by the assembly.
The Telangana government said that the governor must clear Bills passed by the legislature on prioriy. A bench, comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha, urged governors of Indian states to keep in mind the mandate under Article 200 of the Constitution to clear the bills “as soon as possible”.
The apex court was hearing a plea filed by the Telangana government seeking directions to governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to give her assent to 10 key Bills passed by the state legislature that had been pending with her. The observation was made during the hearing of the plea.
The Punjab governor has withheld approval on three money Bills: The Punjab Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Punjab Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Indian Stamp (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2023, for which the government had sought approval for presenting in the Vidhan Sabha during the October 20-21 Vidhan Sabha session.
On October 19, the governor deemed the session illegal and withheld his approval for the money Bills, escalating the tension between the chief minister and him.
‘Can’t keep Bills pending indefinitely’
“The governor may or may not give assent to a Bill. However, the decision should be made rather than keeping the Bills pending for months,” said the advocate general. He said the government cannot keep Bills pending indefinitely. “If he has queries, he should communicate them to the government. If he believes that the Vidhan session is not conducted as per provisions, he should return the Bills. But he has to take action. He can’t keep bills pending indefinitely,” said the advocate general. He said that it would also be pleaded before the court that the governor can’t stall any assembly session.
In March, the Lok Sabha passed the Finance Bill, 2023, with 64 amendments. One of the most important amendments is the establishment of the much-awaited GST Appellate Tribunal in states for settling disputes. “It’s a central bill that Punjab needs to ratify. However, it is also stalled,” said a government functionary, requesting anonymity.
Asked about Purohit’s claim that the session is “illegal” and any legislative work conducted in the session is not valid, a government functionary responded that so far, the government has not received any written response regarding the Bills passed in the last assembly session. In a parliamentary democracy, the governor has no discretion to delay necessary assent as required for the Bills.
The governor did not acknowledge the June 19-20 Vidhan Sabha session and has not signed the Bills passed during that session, too. These Bills include The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023, Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and The Punjab University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023. The university amendment Bill aims to remove the governor as the chancellor of universities and make the Punjab CM the new chancellor.
“The governor has already stated that the June session is illegal, so he does not need to respond to any business conducted during it,” said a constitutional expert. He has already made it clear that the government cannot extend the budget session and can pass any Bill by calling a fresh session.
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