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| Can't allow High Courts to exercise power under Article 142: Supreme Court | | |  Agencies
NEW DELHI, Apr 22: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would examine whether the recent judgement on a plea of Tamil Nadu, fixing timelines for the grant of assent to bills, covered the issues raised by the Kerala government in its pleas.
A bench comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi agreed to hear on May 6 the pleas of the Kerala government against Governor over the delay in approving bills passed by the state assembly.
"We will look into that judgement and see whether issues raised here are covered," the bench said when Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Governor's office, said the recent judgement delivered by a bench headed by Justice J B Pardiwala did not cover the issues raised by the Kerala government.
A bench comprising Justices Pardiwala and R Mahadevan on April 8 delivered a significant verdict on the plea of Tamil Nadu and set aside the reservation of the 10 bills for President's consideration in the second round holding it as illegal, erroneous in law.
The bench, for the first time, also prescribed that President should decide on the bills reserved for her consideration by Governor within a period of three months from the date on which such reference is received.
Kerala seeks similar directions in its case.
On Tuesday, senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for Kerala, said the pleas of the state were covered by the recent judgement.
"What is the timeline for making a reference to the President by the Governor and this issue is dealt with by that judgement and there are no other questions," he said.
He urged the bench to allow the pleas of the Kerala government in terms of the Tamil Nadu judgement.
Mehta, however, insisted on making submissions saying the case of Kerala was not covered by the Tamil Nadu judgement.
"The (Tamil Nadu) judgment does not cover certain issues in this case on facts which are essentially different," the bench said and fixed the pleas for hearing on May 6.
The bench asked Venugopal to mention the third and subsequent plea of the state government, challenging the withholding of assent by President, before the CJI so that it can also be referred to it.
Venugopal said the Chief Justice of India directed listing of the petition on May 13.
The bench said a mention had to be made before the CJI for tagging the other petition with the present one.
In 2023, the top court expressed displeasure over the then Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan "sitting" for two years on bills passed by the state legislature.
Khan is currently Governor of Bihar.
The top court, on July 26, last year, agreed to consider the plea of opposition-ruled Kerala alleging the denial of assent to bills passed by the legislative assembly.
The Kerala government alleged that Khan referred certain bills to President Droupadi Murmu and those were yet to be cleared.
Taking note of the pleas, the top court issued notices to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the secretaries of the Kerala Governor. |
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