Tamil Nadu government on Saturday contended that if the Governor had withheld assent for a Bill, it meant that he had rejected it and the Bill can then be reconsidered and readopted by the Assembly for sending it back for Governor’s assent.
Participating in the discussion on the resolution moved by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to reconsider the 10 Bills for which Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi had conveyed his decision of withholding assent, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Edappadi K. Palaniswami said withholding assent could mean that the Bill was still pending with the Governor and not rejected. He raised concern over the legality of the Assembly readopting these Bills.
Responding to Mr. Palaniswami, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said withholding assent was just a “euphemism” for rejection. He pointed out that when the President “withheld assent” for a Bill adopted by the Tamil Nadu Assembly to exempt the State from National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET) during the previous AIADMK government, the Union government clarified in the court that the Bill had in fact been “rejected”.
Speaker M. Appavu recalled that when the President withheld assent for the NEET exemption Bill, the then Law Minister, C.Ve. Shanmugam of AIADMK, had said that the Bill could have been reconsidered by the Assembly if the Union government had responded to the State’s request to provide reasons for withholding assent.
Mr. Appavu highlighted that Mr. Stalin, who was then the LoP, responded to Mr. Shanmugam in the Assembly, saying that the House had the sovereignty and powers to reconsider the Bill if assent was withheld.
Moreover, the Speaker said the Constitution did not mention anywhere whether such a Bill can or cannot be reconsidered. He further said the Speaker, under Section 286 of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (TNLA) Rules, had the powers to allow discussion on matters not specifically provided for in either the Constitution or the TNLA Rules. He said the Chief Minister’s resolution to reconsider the Bills was taken up for discussion on Saturday based on these powers of the Speaker.
Law Minister S. Regupathy said it was wrong to interpret that the Bills for which Governor had withheld assent as “pending”. They had been returned, he added. Referring to the Constituent Assembly debate between Shibban Lal Saxena and T.T. Krishnamachari in 1948, he said the Governor cannot act on his own, but only on the advice of the Council of Ministers while deciding on granting assent or returning the Bills.
