Kolkata, Apr 10 (Reporter) A day after West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee reminded Governor C V Ananda Bose of the 22 pending bills awaiting his assent, the Raj Bhawan here said the governor has been "particular in abiding by Constitutional proprieties in dealing with all matters, including those concerning passage of Bills". Biman Banerjee had made the remarks following a Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday that governors cannot indefinitely withhold approval of bills passed by the state legislature, Giving a detailed account of the 22 bills that are pending with the governor. the Raj Bhawan said in a release that it had been informed that there were 22 Bills "supposedly ‘pending" with Bose. "On being reported thus HG (the honourable governor) immediately had the matter assessed. Out of those Bills, HG assented to five, while two are pending with the state government for want of information sought.” “HG has reserved for the consideration of Hon’ble President 11 Bills during 2024 and 2025. Ten of these relate to university matters and one is the ‘Aparajit Bill’ which was reserved as recommended by the State Government,” Raj Bhawan said in its release. The Raj Bhawan was referring to The Aparajita Woman and Child Bill (West Bengal Criminal Laws and Amendment), 2024, which was introduced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee following the rape and murder case at R.G. Kar Medical College in August last year. The Trinamool Congress has frequently raised concerns that the bill — aimed at strengthening justice through harsher punishments, swift investigations, and expedited trials in sexual assault cases — was unanimously passed in the Assembly in September 2024 but could not be implemented as the Governor’s assent remained pending. However, Raj Bhawan clarified that the bill had been forwarded to the President of India for approval and is currently pending at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The President of India has withheld consent on bills like The West Bengal Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Bill, 2013, Dunlop India Ltd (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertaking) Bill, 2016 and Jessop & Company Ltd (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertaking) Bill, 2016. In a similar vein, the Raj Bhawan clarified that at least five other bills are still pending with the state government. These include the West Bengal Estate Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2017; The West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes (Amendment) Bill, 2018; The Code of Criminal Procedure (West Bengal Amendment) Bill, 2018; The West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019; and The Howrah Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021. According to Raj Bhawan, clarifications were sought on these bills, but the state government has yet to respond. The governor’s response comes after the Speaker following the Supreme Court judgement said that it was a welcome one and believed it would put pressure on the governor. He implied that important bills could not be kept pending indefinitely and emphasised that the state government, being an elected body, should not be denied by the governor. He mentioned that he had been voicing this concern for a long time and hoped that the governor would now grant consent to the bills. The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Governors cannot indefinitely delay or withhold assent to Bills passed or re-passed by a state Assembly and fixed a timeline of one to three months for their actions as per the Constitution. The verdict was delivered by Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan after a year of intense constitutional standoff between the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government and Governor R N Ravi, who had withheld assent to 10 key Bills, some pending since 2020...////...