Will not rest until Constitution amended to set deadline for Governors to assent to Bills: MK Stalin

Asserting that the struggle to secure the rights of states and establish real federalism will continue, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday said, “We will not rest until the Constitution is amended to set a deadline for assenting Bills.”

Despite the apex court being averse to stipulating a deadline for the President and Governors, Stalin, taking to ‘X’, said “We will not rest until the Constitution is amended to set a deadline for Governors to assent to and clear Bills passed by the Assembly.”

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Reacting to the Supreme Court’s opinion on the Presidential reference, he drew attention to “the court’s explanation that its opinion will have no impact on the April 8, 2005, judgment in the case filed by Tamil Nadu.” For the DMK government, it is a reiteration of its victory in its continuing battle against Governor RN Ravi.

He said the court had made it clear that Governors can’t indefinitely delay taking decision on Bills, and if there is no reason for that, the court can be approached for remedy. “The Governor doesn’t have the fourth option of sitting on a Bill indefinitely, like the Tamil Nadu Governor,” he said.

The Chief Minister also said that there can’t be two power centres in a state, and the government elected by the people should run the administration. It was pointed out that those occupying Constitutional office should function within the confines of the Constitution and should not transgress it.

“Observations of courts have no value and are like the views expressed by the Advocate Generals. They do not carry any significance,” was the observation of a 9-Judge Bench in St Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad, vs State of Gujarat (1974), he recalled, adding that the top court’s clarification yesterday is once again a rejection of RN Ravi’s contention that the Raj Bhavans can sit on Bills indefinitely.

“Through our legal battle, we have succeeded in establishing that Governors who are on a warpath with elected governments, like the one in Tamil Nadu, have to work on the advice of the government. For inordinately delaying assent to Bills, they are answerable to courts,” the post read. “Further, we have ensured that Governors can no longer hide behind Article 361, and no office under the Constitution is above it. The courts are the last resort when those holding such offices transgress it. Closing those doors would encourage transgressions and sound the death knell for democracy.”