Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has cleared one more Bill passed by the Kerala Asembly, indicating a possible thaw in his relationship with the State government.
Raj Bhavan gave its assent to the Kerala Building Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023 on April 2. The Governor cleared the Bill with a note that the government may approach the Election Commission of India to take further steps on the Bill as the model code of conduct is in force.
However, a few Bills passed by the State Assembly, including the Kerala Government Land Assignment (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which aims to regulate the use of public land for building houses and farming, are pending with the Governor. The Assembly had passed the bill in September 2023, considering the demands from the people of the Idukki district.
The other pending Bills include the Kerala Cooperative Societies (Third Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Kerala Abkari (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
Incidentally, Mr. Khan cleared the appointment of S. Manikumar, former Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, as chairperson of the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) on Wednesday. The State government, which had earlier moved the Supreme Court against the Governor for what it termed an inordinate delay in acting on the Bills, had toyed with the idea of taking up the case of the SHRC too to the court. The Governor cannot exercise any discretion regarding the recommendation of the State Cabinet to appoint the chairperson of the commission, government sources indicated.
The State government’s petition against the Governor for his act of sending the Bills to the President after keeping it with him for months together and also the President withholding her assent to a few Bills will come up before the top court shortly.
