The demand to constitutionally mandate Governors to act within a time frame on files including legislations sent to Raj Bhavan by an elected government is being given a consistent push by Tamil Nadu in recent months. Flagging the issue at the 82nd All India Presiding Officers Conference in Shimla last November, Legislative Assembly Speaker M. Appavu, pointed out that Governors sometimes sit on Bills without giving assent or returning it “for an indefinite period”.
The underlying context was clear. The ruling DMK has been unable to fulfil its electoral promise of abolishing NEET. The T.N. Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Bill, adopted by the Assembly in September 2021 to dispense with NEET and facilitate admissions based on Plus Two marks, remains under the consideration of Governor R.N. Ravi. As NEET comes under the Centre’s purview, it is required that the Governor forward the Bill for Presidential assent. This delay has upset Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who has argued that it was the basic principle of a democracy that when the Assembly invoked its right and enacted a law, the Governor “should respect it and give it his approval”. Governors, though heads of the State Executive, are appointed by the Union Government. “Therefore, when they stall the assent to a Bill, they are virtually overruling the will of the people of the State,” Mr. Appavu said. He called for setting a “binding time frame” within which Bills must receive assent, be returned, or reserved for the consideration of the President by the Governors.
