Governor has constitutional duty to decide on MLC nominations in reasonable time: Bombay HC

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The Bombay High Court on Friday said the Maharashtra Governor has a “constitutional obligation” to either accept or reject “within reasonable time” the proposal sent by the state cabinet to nominate 12 persons as Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs).

Eight months had passed after the cabinet sent the list to governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and this was “reasonable time”, a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni said.

This impasse has to be resolved, it said.

It would be eminently desirable if the governor discharged his obligation without much delay as seats in the Legislative Council cannot be kept vacant indefinitely, the court added.

Though a governor is not answerable to the court, “We express our hope and trust that the constitutional obligation is fulfilled and things will be set right at an early date, the judges said.

“If the saying ‘Everything happens for a reason’ is to be believed then we are sure that there was a genuine reason for the Governor to not say anything until now on the proposal.

However, it is the duty of the Governor to speak and let the Chief Minister know about his views within reasonable time on the proposal, the bench said.

The court’s ruling came on a petition filed by Nashik resident Ratan Soli Luth seeking a direction to the governor to decide on the nominations submitted by the chief Minister and council of ministers in November 2020, recommending 12 names for seats in the governor’s quota in the Upper House of the legislature.

The state government, which had been made party to the petition, had demanded before the HC that the governor take a decision within 15 days.

In the present case, eight months have passed. This is a reasonable time according to us. It is important that the obligation of the governor in the present case is discharged without much delay, the court said.

Should there be any misunderstanding or miscommunication between two constitutional authorities then these disagreements ought to be made known to each other so as to iron out the differences, the HC added.

The state government had argued that the governor should have accepted its proposal and he cannot keep his decision pending.

Under Article 171(5) of the Constitution, those nominated by governor shall be persons having “special knowledge or practical experience” in respect of matters such as literature, science, art and social service. The delay by Koshyari in taking decision has become a major bone of contention between him and the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the state. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had earlier this year taken a swipe at Koshyari, remarking that he hoped the government would not have to go to court on the issue.

While the term of legislators from the governor’s quota in the Council expired in June last year, the cabinet sent its list of nominees only in November.