A constitutional bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday said that the governors and the President cannot be bound to any judicially imposed timelines. The court, at the same time, clarified that while their decisions under Articles 200 and 201 (acting on bills) are generally non-justiciable. Delivering the advisory, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai said that the governors are ordinarily expected to act on the aid; however, the Constitution envisages a limited area of discretion.
The court had also declared that the Tamil Nadu Governor’s decision to withhold assent to 10 bills was “illegal” and “arbitrary”. The court used power under Article 142 of the Constitution to declare those bills as passed and assented.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court gave its decision on setting a deadline for the President and the Governor to approve bills. Giving a major decision, the country’s top court said that courts cannot bind the Governor and the President within a time limit. But if there is an unreasonable delay in the bill, it will intervene. The court said that we do not think that the Governors have the full power to stop the bills passed by the Legislative Assemblies. Earlier, after hearing the case for 10 days, the bench had reserved its opinion on this on September 11.
During the hearing, Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta presented the central government’s side, while opposition-ruled states Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh opposed the central government.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, Justice Vikram Nath, Justice P.S. Narasimha, and Justice A.S. Chandurkar held that no time limit can be imposed on the Governor, except by asking him to take a decision within a reasonable period. The CJI said that imposing a time limit would be contrary to the flexibility so carefully protected by the Constitution. However, the Supreme Court held that the Governor cannot indefinitely stay state bills.
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