The Kerala government on Thursday, November 2 approached the Supreme Court against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan not signing the eight bills pending with him since long. The move comes a month after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan indicated that the state will have no option but to seek legal recourse against Governor Khan in the matter.
Along with senior CPI(M) legislator TP Ramakrishnan, the state government has sought the court’s intervention in ensuring that the Governor is prevailed upon to sign the bills for smoother governance.
Vijayan had pointed out that the Governor has with him eight bills passed by the Kerala Legislative Assembly for a long time. Three of these have been lying with him for over a year and one for around 22 months, while another three are with him for around a year, and two bills for less than a year.
The Chief Minister had said that they have taken legal advice from jurist Fali S Nariman and have even spoken to veteran lawyer KK Venugopal to represent the state in the apex court.
Responding to the state’s plan, Khan – who seemed in no mood to relent – had then said that if the government wishes to squander money, let them do so.
But state Law Minister P Rajeev chose to downplay the development on Thursday morning saying that it was not a tiff between the government and the Governor.
“This issue is between the Governor and the Assembly,” said Rajeev.
State Congress president K Sudhakaran called it an unprecedented situation in the state when the Governor and the government are at loggerheads. If signed, one of the bills will nullify the Lokayukta institution and this is done with vested interest by the government, he added.