Thiruvananthapuram: Joint action against Governors’ moves that curtail State governments’ functioning and threaten federal principles is imperative, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Tuesday.
Vijayan said his government will consider with “utmost seriousness” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin’s proposal for States to pass Assembly resolutions seeking time frame for Governor to clear State Bills.
Responding to a letter written by Stalin, who had proposed to pass a resolution in the Kerala Assembly similar to that passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislature to fix the time limit for Governors to approve the bills, Vijayan said as defenders of the federal spirit of our Constitution, “we have to cooperate in every effort to prevent the curtailing of the functioning of elected state governments.”
“Even though the time period for giving assent to the bills is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, it has to be a reasonable one,” he said.
A week after the Tamil Nadu Assembly adopted a resolution in this regard, Vijayan said going by the experience of many States, the Justice M N Venkatachaliah Commission to review the working of the Constitution and the Justice M M Punchi Commission on Union-State Relations has recommended mentioning a time limit, within which the Governor has to take a decision on giving assent to bills, in Article 200.
“In this matter, we are ready to extend wholehearted cooperation to you and will consider the proposal in your letter with utmost seriousness,” the Kerala Chief Minister said in the letter, offering full support to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for future actions.
In his April 11 letter to Vijayan, Stalin explained the circumstances that forced the Tamil Nadu Assembly to pass a resolution to fix a time limit for the Governors to approve bills passed by the respective legislatures and requested the Kerala CM to extend his support in this regard to uphold the sovereignty and self-respect of the State governments and the legislatures by passing a similar resolution in the Kerala Assembly.
Fully appreciating the views expressed by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister in the letter, Vijayan said they were in consonance with “the stand taken by us” in Kerala.
“As you have rightly stated, presently elected governments in many states are facing this issue. In Kerala too, certain bills passed by the State Assembly after due deliberation have been kept pending by the Governor for an unduly long time, some for more than a year. This despite the fact that the ministers and officials have personally visited and given the clarifications sought by the Governor,” he said.
The Kerala Chief Minister said putting a halt, that too for an inordinately long time, to the legislative measures passed by the State Assemblies which represent the will of the electorate tantamounts to nothing short of negation of democratic rights of the people.
Vijayan alleged that the time-tested convention of parliamentary democracy that the Governor has to act in accordance with the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers is being violated through the act of holding back assent to the bills passed by the legislature.
He said the Constitutional discretion of the Governor operates in narrow confines of the Articles, where there is explicit mention of the word discretion and in extreme situation of invoking Article 356, which was expected to remain a dead letter, as agreed to by the eminent Constitution maker Dr B R Ambedkar in Constituent Assembly Debates.
“Article 356, instead of remaining a dead letter has been put to oft-repeated use (many times misuse) to oust State governments enjoying majority support in the Assemblies. The examples are the dismissal of the Communist government headed by Shri E M S Namboodiripad in Kerala in 1959 and the DMK Government headed by Thiru M Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu in 1976 and 1991”, Vijayan said.
Later, in a tweet, Vijayan said, “Joint action against Governors’ moves that curtail State Govts’ functioning and threaten our federal principles is imperative. Thiru @mkstalin’s proposal for coordinated efforts in this regard is highly appreciated.”
Stalin thanked Vijayan for his prompt response to his letter.
“Thank you Hon @PinarayiVijayan for your prompt response to my letter & extending full support. TN & Kerala have traditionally stood as a bulwark against any attempt to erode state autonomy. We will win in our crusade against the gubernatorial overreach too,” the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister tweeted.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly on April 10 adopted a resolution urging the Centre and President to fix a timeframe for State Governors to approve Bills adopted by the House, indicating increasing dissension between the DMK government and Governor R N Ravi.
Chief Minister Stalin who piloted the resolution fired sharp barbs at Ravi accusing him of being more faithful to the BJP leadership than the Constitution of India.
“I will not say that the Governor doesn’t know the Constitution. But, his political allegiance has swallowed his loyalty to the Constitution,” Stalin had said and cautioned that he would not remain idle if the Governor continued to target his government for political reasons.
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