Bengal moves SC against Governor for ‘withholding’ Bills passed in Assembly
Kolkata: Irked with Governor C V Ananda Bose for allegedly withholding Bills forwarded to him by the state Assembly for assent, the state of West Bengal has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court contending that his refusal to give assent without stating any reason is contrary to Article 200 of the Constitution.
The petition was mentioned before Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud for urgent listing. The court is learnt to have agreed to consider the request. According to the state, the following eight Bills pending with the Governor are — The West Bengal Private University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 passed on 14.06.2022; The West Bengal Krishi Viswavidyalaya Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022 passed on 17.06.2022; The West Bengal University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2022 passed on 21.06.2022; The Aliah University (Amendment) Bill, 2022 passed on 23.06.2022; The West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and Development) (Amendment) Bill, 2023 passed on 28.07.2023 and The West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 passed on 04.08.2023.
The state claimed that the first six Bills were sent for assent when Bose’s predecessor Jagdeep Dhankhar was the Governor. The last two Bills were passed after Bose took charge as the Governor of Bengal.
The state’s petition submitted that the Governor’s omission threatened to defeat and subvert democratic good governance and therefore infringed upon the rights of the people of Bengal to the welfare measures sought to be implemented through the Bills.
The petition also referred to the apex court’s direction in the case against Telangana Governor where it was said that Governors cannot sit on the Bills forever and should return it as soon as possible under Article 200. “Despite the Governor for the State of West Bengal being aware of the decisions of this Hon’ble Court in similar circumstances for the States of Telangana and Punjab, several crucial Bills have been lying dormant with the Governor of the State since 2022,” the State of West Bengal submitted in its petition.
Recently, the Bengal government had locked horns with Bose over allegedly withholding the West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill. The Governor in turn had claimed that “it has been lying with the State Government since 15.12.2021 pending clarification.”
Bose further claimed: “During November 2023 the West Bengal Legislative Assembly had sent a list of 22 Bills that were indicated to be ‘pending with Raj Bhavan.’ It was seen that none of the Bills were pending on account of any lapses at Raj
Bhavan- The current status against each Bill was mentioned and communicated.”
