By Shilpa Nair: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin asked chief ministers of other states to pass resolutions similar to the one passed by his state assembly demanding the President to fix a specific time frame for governors to give assent to bills passed by the legislature. Stalin has written to the chief ministers of non-BJP states with this demand.

In his letter, Stalin claimed that Indian democracy today “stands at crossroads” and that “we are increasingly witnessing the fading away of cooperative federalism”.

The Tamil Nadu chief minister sought the support of the chief ministers of the non-BJP states for the resolution passed by the state assembly and urged them to pass similar resolutions in their respective assemblies to uphold the “sovereignty and self-respect of state governments”.

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“The Constitution of India has clearly defined the roles and responsibilities of the Union and state governments along with the role of the Governor. However, it is observed that such time-tested principles are neither respected nor followed now, affecting the functioning of the state governments,” he wrote.

“Some Governors today are indefinitely holding various Bills that have been duly passed by the state legislatures and sent for approval which brings the respective state administrations to a standstill in such areas. Considering various aspects of the issue, we took several efforts to clarify the doubts and concerns raised by the Governor on the bills sent for approval, including the ‘Bill to Ban Online Rummy’,” Stalin said in the letter.

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“As our efforts failed and as we came to know that many other states have similar issues, we in Tamil Nadu deemed it fit to pass a Resolution in our State Assembly urging the Union Government and the President of India to fix a time limit for the Governors to approve the Bills passed by the respective Legislatures,” he said.

“I am sure that you will agree with the spirit and content of the resolution, and extend your support in this regard to uphold the sovereignty and self-respect of the state governments and the legislatures by passing a similar resolution in your state assembly,” Stalin said.

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