New Delhi [India], July 25 : The Kerala government on Friday withdrew its plea filed against the Governors' delay in giving assent to bills passed by the State assembly, from the Supreme Court.
A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Atul S Chandurkar allowed the Kerala government to withdraw their plea after Senior advocate K K Venugopal representing Kerala sought the same.
During the hearing today, senior counsel appearing for the Kerala government stated that a recent Supreme Court judgment that prescribes timelines for the Governor and the President of India to give their assents to bills, already addressed the main issue in their case, and thus their plea had become infructuous.
Solicitor General of India (SGI) Tushar Mehta, on the other hand strongly opposed the Kerala government's request to withdraw its petitions, arguing that the issues involved were constitutional in nature and could not be filed and withdrawn lightly.
The SGI submitted that the matter should instead be tagged along with the upcoming five-judge bench case, which will examine whether the Supreme Court can set timelines and procedures for the President and State Governors in dealing with Bills passed by State legislatures.
However, Senior Advocate KK Venugopal, appearing for the Kerala government, insisted on withdrawing the petition.
Attorney General R Venkataramani also opposed the withdrawal, stating that it was not a simple withdrawal and after the Presidential reference against the Supreme Court's verdict that set deadlines for the top-executives to give assent to bills, the matter is slated to be dealt with by a constitutional bench of the court.