We cannot have court direct the president: VP Dhankhar on SC’s bills assent ruling

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday said that there cannot be a situation where the judiciary issues directives to the president.

The remark was made in an apparent reference to the Supreme Court’s April 8 judgement imposing a three-month deadline for the president to approve or reject bills referred by state governors.

“So we have judges who will legislate, who will perform executive functions, who will act as super Parliament, and absolutely have no accountability because the law of the land does not apply to them,” Dhankhar, who served as the West Bengal governor from 2019 to 2022, said at an event.

Claiming that the concerns were at the “very highest level”, the vice president said: “There is a directive to the president by a recent judgement. Where are we heading? What is happening in the country?”

The Supreme Court’s verdict on April 8 came on a petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government after Governor RN Ravi did not act on several bills for over three years before rejecting them and sending some to the president.

Most of the bills related to higher education, including measures to remove the governor as chancellor of state universities. Of the 10 re-enacted bills sent to the president in November 2023, one was approved, seven were rejected and two were pending.

The court...

Read more