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New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, made it clear that the governor of a state cannot indefinitely withhold assent to a Bill passed by the Assembly. The Court was hearing a petition by the Tamil Nadu government against governor R N Ravi for reserving ten Bills for the President’s consideration.
The bench of Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan has called Ravi’s actions unconstitutional and violative of his mandated role under the Constitution. The governor’s decision to reserve the ten bills for the President’s consideration — after they had already been returned and re-passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly — went against Article 200 of the Constitution, which deals with a governor’s assent to bills, the bench ruled.
The court further observed that the governor does not enjoy any discretion in such matters and is bound to act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers. The bench stated that the governor cannot indefinitely withhold assent nor exercise what is effectively an “absolute veto” or “pocket veto.”
The order clearly states that once a bill is passed by the Assembly and sent to the governor for a second time, the only constitutional course of action is for the governor to either assent to it or, in rare cases, withhold assent if the Bill differs substantially from its earlier version. Reserving it again for Presidential consideration is not permitted. Following the court’s intervention, all ten pending bills have now been cleared.
The Tamil Nadu government has been at loggerheads with the governor for quite some time now over the assent to Bills passed by the Assembly. The order is being seen as reaffirmation of the country’s federal principles and a major step towards curbing the discretionary overreach of governors in legislative matters.
Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin hailed Tuesday’s Supreme Court order and called it a major victory for all state governments in India.
Calling it a ‘historic verdict’ at the state Assembly, Stalin said: “The Governor had returned several Bills without giving his assent. We moved the Supreme Court and it has now ruled that such withholding of assent was illegal. This is a major victory not just for Tamil Nadu but all state governments in India.”
