Tag: assent

Pak Prez returns bill seeking to curb powers of CJ without assent for second time

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Islamabad: Pakistan President Arif Alvi on Wednesday returned a bill seeking to curb the powers of the chief justice of the Supreme Court to parliament for a second time, saying that the matter was now subjudice.
“The matter of competency of legislation and validity of the bill is subjudice now before the highest judicial forum of the country. In deference to the same, thereto no further action is desirable,” the President was quoted as saying in his reply by the Dawn newspaper.
The bill, titled the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, is aimed at depriving the office of the CJP of powers to take suo motu notice in an individual capacity and form a panel of judges for hearing of cases.

It was initially passed by both houses of parliament and sent to the president for his assent. However, the president sent it back, saying that the proposed law travelled “beyond the competence of parliament”.
The bill was, however, passed again by a joint sitting of parliament with certain amendments on April 10 and sent to the president.
But three days after the passing of the bill by the joint parliament session, an eight-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC), including CJP Umar Ata Bandial, issued an order that bars the government from implementing the bill after it becomes a law.
The bench observed that prima facie the proposed law infringed the powers of the apex court to frame its own rules and it merits a hearing by the court.
The court in its order after hearing stated that any intrusion in its practice and the procedure, even on the most tentative of assessments, would appear to be “inimical to the independence of the judiciary, no matter how innocuous, benign or even desirable the regulation may facially appear to be”.

“It is therefore hereby directed and ordered as follows. The moment that the bill receives the assent of the president or (as the case may be) it is deemed that such assent has been given, then from that very moment onwards and till further orders, the act that comes into being shall not have, take or be given any effect nor be acted upon in any manner,” the court stated.
The parliament passed a resolution calling for the dissolution of the eight-judge larger bench. The resolution tabled by the Pakistan Peoples Party lawmaker Agha Rafiullah was approved by a majority vote.
Pakistan is witnessing a rift between the judiciary and the government after a three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Bandial fixed May 14 as the date for elections to the Punjab Assembly and quashed the Election Commission’s decision to extend the date of the poll from April 10 to October 8.
The bill states that every cause, matter, or appeal before the apex court would be heard and disposed of by a bench constituted by a committee comprising the chief justice and the two senior-most judges. It added that the decisions of the committee would be taken by a majority.
On exercising the apex court’s original jurisdiction, called suo motu powers, the bill said that any matter invoking the use of Article 184(3) would first be placed before the committee.
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#Pak #Prez #returns #bill #seeking #curb #powers #assent #time
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 19, 2023
Kerala to consider Stalin’s proposal on time limit for Governor’s assent to Bills

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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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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 18, 2023
Three Bills accorded assent by Telangana governer: Supreme Court

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Delhi: Telangana governor’s office on Monday told the Supreme Court that assent has been given to three Bills passed by the state legislature and two others have been reserved for consideration and assent of the President.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala was told by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that he has received a communication dated April 9 from the secretary to the governor of Telangana in regard to the position of the Bills, which were submitted to the governor for assent.
The bench took the letter on record and noted that the assents of governor were given for the Bills which include The Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Telangana Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and The Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

It noted that two Bills which were reserved for consideration and assent of the President are The University of Forestry Telangana Bill, 2022 and The Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022.
The bench recorded in its order that the Bills which are under active consideration of the governor are The Telangana State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Telangana Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and The Telangana Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation) (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
“The statement indicates that certain clarifications have been sought by the Governor from the State Government in regard to Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill 2023,” the bench said in its order.
It added that it has been stated that the Azamabad Industrial Area (Termination and Regulation of Leases) (Amendment) Bill 2022 has not been submitted as yet by the Law Department to the governor for consideration and assent.
The court posted the matter for further hearing on April 24.

On March 27, the top court had deferred to April 10 the hearing on the Telangana government’s plea seeking directions to the state governor to clear 10 Bills that have been passed by the assembly but are awaiting gubernatorial assent.
The top court was told by Mehta that he had some discussion with the governor on the issue and would make a statement on the next date of hearing.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the Telangana government, had said that in Madhya Pradesh, the governor grants assent to Bills within seven days while in Gujarat, Bills are cleared within a month.
On March 20, the top court sought the Centre’s response on the plea filed by the state government.
It had clarified that the court will not issue notice to the office of governor but would like to see the reply of the Union of India on the state government’s plea.
On March 14, the apex court agreed to hear a petition filed by the Telangana government seeking directions to the state governor to clear 10 pending Bills passed by legislative assembly but are awaiting gubernatorial assent.
The court had agreed to hear the plea, after Dave mentioned it for urgent listing, saying several Bills of public importance are stuck.
The state government has said in its petition it is constrained to move the apex court under Article 32 of the Constitution in view of a “constitutional impasse” created on account of refusal of the governor to act on several Bills passed by the state legislature.
It said Article 200 of the Constitution empowers the governor to either give assent to a Bill passed by the state assembly or to withhold the assent or reserve the Bill for consideration of the President.
“This power has to be exercised as soon as possible,” it said.
The state government said several Bills passed by the assembly, including the Telangana Municipal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Telangana Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation) Amendment Bill 2022 and Telangana Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill, 2022, are awaiting Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan’s nod.
Soundararajan, a former Tamil Nadu BJP chief, is locked in a running feud with the BRS government in Telangana.
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#Bills #accorded #assent #Telangana #governer #Supreme #Court
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 11, 2023
Telangana govt vs Governor: SC to hear govt’s plea over delay in assent to bills

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine a plea filed by the Telangana government seeking directions to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to clear ten bills passed by the legislative Assembly, which are awaiting her assent.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud for urgent listing, saying that “several bills are stuck”. After hearing brief submissions, the bench agreed to list the matter on March 20.
Earlier this month, the Telangana government had approached the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Governor to give her approval to the bills passed by the state legislature. In a writ petition, the state government has brought to the notice of the Supreme Court that 10 bills are pending with Raj Bhavan. While seven bills are pending since September 2022, three bills were sent to the Governor last month for her approval. The Secretary to the Governor and the Union Law Ministry has been made respondents in the case.
The plea contended that Article 200 of the Constitution empowers the Governor to either assent to a Bill passed by the state legislature or to withhold assent therefrom or to reserve the Bill for consideration of the President and this power is however to be exercised “as soon as possible”.
This is the second time that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government has knocked on the court’s door against the Governor.
Last month, the government moved the Telangana High Court seeking direction to the Governor to give her approval to the state Budget for 2023-24. The court, however, had suggested both sides sort out the issue amicably.
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#Telangana #govt #Governor #hear #govts #plea #delay #assent #bills
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 14, 2023
President gives assent to Punjab, Telangana bills

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Delhi: A Punjab bill which aims at giving property rights to more than 11,200 tenants occupying over 4,000 acres of land after paying due compensation has received presidential assent, officials said Thursday.
President Droupadi Murmu also gave her assent to a Telangana bill which allows the imposition of fines on people standing surety for securing bail in cases of grave offences if he or she fails to produce the accused on the date fixed by the court.
The Punjab Bhondedar, Butemar, Dohlidar, Insar Miadi, Mukarraridar,
Mundhimar, Panahi Qadeem, Saunjidar, or Taraddadkar (Vesting of Proprietary
Rights) Bill, 2020 was passed by the Punjab assembly when the Congress government was in power in 2020, an official said.
The legislation was later approved by the Aam Aadmi Party government.
The move allows property rights to more than 11,200 tenants occupying over 4,000 acres land after paying due compensation.
It is expected that the legislation will empower tillers of such land, who belong mostly to the economically and socially weaker sections of the society, another official said.
These tenants have been in occupation of small parcels of land for many years and inherit their rights by succession from generation to generation.
However, since they were not registered owners, they neither have access to financial institutions for loans nor get relief for any natural disaster.

Now, they will get all benefits like other land owners.
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#President #assent #Punjab #Telangana #bills
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 9, 2023