The Supreme Court has scheduled the hearing of the Kerala Government’s petition against the State Governor’s decision to withhold assent on several bills and refer them to the President of India for May 13, 2025. The case was heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar.

Senior Advocate KK Venugopal, representing the Kerala Government, strongly urged the court to hear the matter on the same day, referring to the fresh Supreme Court verdict in the Tamil Nadu case involving a similar issue. He argued that the ruling by Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan in the Tamil Nadu matter—which quashed the Governor’s referral of bills to the President—applies directly to the Kerala situation.

“For 23 months, several bills have been pending... it's very unfortunate,” said KK Venugopal, highlighting the delay in getting the Governor’s assent.

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Attorney General R. Venkataramani, representing the Union Government, requested time to study the Tamil Nadu judgment to understand if it is relevant to the Kerala case.

Responding to this, the CJI noted:

“Let’s see if the judgment is there, let the judgment be examined ...if it’s covered by the judgment, it will be covered by the judgment.”

Venugopal insisted that since the issues are identical, the Kerala matter should be transferred to Justice Pardiwala’s bench for further hearing.

“Ideally it should go before J. Pardiwala’s bench. It's squarely covered,” he reiterated.

The Chief Justice assured that the bench will soon pass an order on the matter:

“Mr. Venugopal, we have given a very short date, and we will pass an order.”

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Background of the Case:

The Kerala Government approached the Supreme Court challenging Governor Arif Mohammad Khan’s actions concerning seven bills passed by the State Assembly. While three bills received Presidential assent, the President withheld assent to four others. The Kerala Government claims this move was unconstitutional and against the spirit of federalism.

The challenge was filed through a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution. The State contended that the Governor’s act of reserving the bills for Presidential consideration was unjustified because none of them involved Centre-State relations that would mandate Presidential intervention.

The bills mainly relate to amendments in the laws concerning State Universities and Cooperative Societies. The following four bills were denied assent:

1. University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2021
2. Kerala Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022
3. University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022
4. University Laws (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill, 2022

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The State pointed out that these bills were passed by the Kerala Assembly between 7 to 24 months before being forwarded for Presidential assent. However, the assent was withheld on February 29, 2024, without any reasons being provided.

“No reasoning has been given for such a rejection,” the State argued.

Kerala has claimed that the Union Government, by advising the President to deny assent, violated the principles of federalism. According to the State, the move undermines its legislative authority and weakens the federal structure laid down in the Constitution.

The State emphasized that:

“The reasons given by the Governor for reserving the bills have nothing to do with the Union of India or the relationship between the Union and the State Legislature.”

Reference was made to Article 213 of the Constitution, which outlines specific circumstances under which the Governor can reserve a bill for the President’s consideration. Kerala argued that those conditions did not exist in this case.

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Kerala Government’s Demands Before the Supreme Court:

1. Quash the Governor’s decision to reserve the four bills for Presidential consideration.
2. Declare the act of reserving the bills as unconstitutional.
3. Quash the President’s decision to withhold assent to the four bills.
4. Declare the President’s action as unconstitutional for lack of stated reasons.
5. Direct the Kerala Governor to immediately grant assent to the following six bills:
   • University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2021 – Bill No. 50
   • University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 – Bill No. 54
   • Kerala Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 110
   • University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 132
   • University Laws (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 149
   • University Laws (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 150
6. Declare that the Governor’s action of reserving all seven bills, including:
   • Kerala Lok Ayukta (Amendment) Bill, 2022 – Bill No. 133
     was illegal and made in bad faith.

Case Details : STATE OF KERALA AND ANR. Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. W.P.(C) No. 211/2024