The Centre’s decision to introduce an equal say for the Governor and Chief Minister in the proposed National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) has met serious resistance from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

In a letter addressed to law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, the West Bengal CM has asked the Centre to clearly state in the NJAC Bill passed by both Houses of Parliament that the Governor will have to follow the advice of the State Government in matters of appointment of High Court judges.

The letter was written in response to an earlier communication by Prasad asking all Chief Ministers to ratify the Constitutional Amendment Bill passed along with NJAC Bill. A Constitution amendment Bill under Article 368 requires to be passed by not less than one-half of the States by resolutions passed to this effect by the respective state Assemblies. So far only Rajasthan Assembly has ratified the Bill. The Ministry expects other States to take up the matter at the earliest possible occasion when the Assemblies convene for their winter session. This exercise is expected to be done in a month or so.

The West Bengal CM referred to Section 6(7) of the NJAC Bill which States, “The Commission (NJAC) shall elicit in writing the views of the Governor and the Chief Minister of the State concerned before making such recommendation....” Once the Commission is put in place, it will scrap the present collegium system under which judges appoint judges.

The law Ministry is understood to have taken note of the objection and will suitably respond to Banerjee. A senior law Ministry official said there is not much that the Centre could do in this regard as the functions of the Governor are clearly defined in the Constitution. “The Governor takes decisions on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. The role of the Governor has to be seen in the constitutional sense. The law Minister had clarified on the issue while replying to the debate on the Bill in Parliament,” the official said.