Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 6 : Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Thursday, while interacting with the civil services aspirants, explained the role of the Governor in the Constitution and said that he has the option to give assent or withhold the Bill passed by the Assembly, and added that the latter means the "Bill is dead".
The Governor said that "withholding" is a "decent language" used for the Bill getting rejected.
Interacting with the aspirants here, Ravi said that the responsibility of the Governor is defined by the Constitution which is to protect the Constitution.
He also said that the Governor looks into the Bill if it does not "transgress the Consitutional limit" and the state government does not "exceed its competence".
"Our Constitution has created the position of Governor and defined his roles and responsibilities. First and foremost responsibility of the Governor is to protect the Constitution of India because whether it is the Union or the State, each of these entities have to work according to the Constitution. How do you protect the Constitution? Suppose, a state makes a law which transgresses the Constitutional limit. In a legislature, a political party has a brute majority, let us say, they can pass any Bill," he said.
"If it transgresses the Constitutional limit, the Bill passed by the Assembly does not become a law until the Governor assents to it. Assenting to is a constitutional responsibility. The Governor has to see if the Bill is exceeding the limit, and whether the state is exceeding its competence. If it does, then it is the responsibility of the Governor to not assent to the Bill," Ravi added.
The Governor explained the procedure of a Bill passed by the Assembly of a state becoming a law and said that the Governor has three options to choose from after it is forwarded to his office - assent, withhold or reserve the Bill for the President.
"The Constitution says that when a Bill passed by the Assembly is forwarded to the Governor for assent, the Governor has three options - assent, withhold the assent... Withholding does not mean that I am just holding it. Withholding has been defined by the Supreme Court by the Constitution Bench, withholding means the Bill is dead. It is a decent language used instead of using rejected. When you say withhold, it means the Bill is dead. Third, he reserves the Bill for the President," he said.
Chief Minister MK Stalin slammed the Governor and alleged that he escaped from his duties and did not give assent to 14 documents.
"Governor by escaping from his administrative duties and roles he didn't give assent to 14 documents like bills, Ordinance and act which was introduced by people representatives who were all elected by crores of people," Stalin said in a statement.
The Chief Minister alleged that the Governor is a "total obstruction".
"This shows not only Governor does dereliction of duty and also total obstruction. If we put continuous pressure, for name sake Governor by asking some clarification and he is returning the bill thinking his responsibility is over," he said.
"For example, take Online Games Prohibition bill which was introduced with very very much needed in fast way. First he asked some random questions, then he said ' State Government is incompetence to pass this bill'," Stalin added.
He said that the Governor's remarks today "are not good for his position".
"From wherever he spoke such things also is not the right place. Governor has said among students today that, " If a bill passed in the Assembly is withheld by the Governor, it means it's dead. "Withhold" means "Rejection" in decent language". It is against the Constitution revealing administration decisions in a public forum who takes a confidential pledge," Stalin said.
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