Editorial: The federal spirit under threat

Tamil Nadu Assembly urges Center and President to fix timeline for governor’s approval of bill in welcome move

Hyderabad: The ‘Team India’ ethos reiterated by the NDA government has been called into question as the constitutional position has been turned into a political tool against non-BJP governments. Seeks to undermine the cooperative federal model through retaliation and non-cooperation. The role of governors in particular has come under scrutiny because of their partisan approach. The battle between state governments and governors, whether in Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bengal or Punjab, has intensified over a number of issues, including governors’ unnecessary interference in day-to-day administration and Deliberately delaying their side agreeing to the bill. In this context, the Tamil Nadu assembly has urged the center and the president to set a time frame for the state governors to approve the bill passed by the House, which is a welcome move. This will facilitate the smooth implementation of state government policies and programmes. Like Telangana, Tamil Nadu has been facing obstacles in its development path as several bills have been awaiting the approval of its governor RN Ravi, prompting Chief Minister MK Stalin to accuse him of being more faithful than the constitution on the BJP leadership. Although the Constitution provides no time limits for the Governor to approve, withhold approval, or reserve bills for Presidential consideration, decorum and custom require that such bills be approved expeditiously, lest the functions of the executive branch be adversely affected.

Unfortunately, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan only agreed to three of the 10 pending bills, and also after the intervention of the Supreme Court. The state government was forced to seek Supreme Court intervention under Section 32 as the governor refused to act on several bills passed by the state legislature, creating a frequent constitutional impasse. In recent years, incidents of center misuse of governorships to inflict stings on non-BJP states have multiplied. The time has come for a broader national debate on the relevance of the governor’s office at a time when the governor’s office is primarily being used as a political tool against the interests of the states. Although the constitution gives Raj Bhavan an elbow room to roll back a bill passed by Parliament, if the legislature re-approves the bill, the Governor-General is bound to accept it. However, nothing is said about the amount of time this process might take. Article 163 of the Constitution is the source of the governor’s discretion. The combined effect of section 163 provides room for central intervention in the affairs of the states as the coalition government nominates governors. However, any attempt to violate the powers of the legislature constitutes an abuse of the powers of the governor.