New Delhi: The Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday to strike down Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi’s move to reserve 10 re-enacted state bills for presidential assent in November last year are likely to have an impact on similar disputes spanning across at least five states, Hindustan Times reported.A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan of the Supreme Court declared the action of Governor Ravi as “erroneous” and “illegal” as the bill was already reconsidered by the state Assembly. In a significant move, the court also laid down a timeline for governors to decide on bills presented to them. The court said that in case a governor decides to withhold assent or reserve a bill for presidential consideration “upon the aid and advice of the state’s council of ministers”, he must act within one month of the bill being sent to him. On the contrary, where such decisions go against the advice of the state government, the governor should return the bill with a message or reserve it for consideration of the President in a maximum period of three months, the bench noted. With the latest judgment, the Supreme Court has reiterated its message that governors cannot act as gatekeepers to override or stall a democratically passed legislation. What are the 10 bills of the Tamil Nadu government?Given the “unduly long period of time” taken by governor Ravi and “scant respect” shown to the past judgments of the Supreme Court, the bench invoked its powers under Article 142 of the constitution and declared that the bills have to be deemed assented to.Originally, 12 bills of Tamil Nadu, most of them dealing with appointments of vice chancellors in state-run universities, were sent for consent to the governor between January 2020 and April 2023. However, the governor sat on them indefinitely.In November 2023, as the Tamil Nadu government approached the top court, the governor quickly referred two bills for the President’s assent. However, he proceeded to withhold consent on the remaining 10.The Tamil Nadu Assembly re-passed the 10 bills in a special session on November 18, 2023, and had them resent to the governor for consent. The governor, in turn, referred all the 10 bills to the President, who subsequently assented to one bill, rejected seven and did not consider the remaining two.Now, with the Supreme Court’s order, the 10 bills that stand assented are: Tamil Nadu Fisheries University (Amendment) Bill, 2020; Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Amendment) Bill, 2020; The Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022; The Tamil Nadu Siddha Medical University Bill, 2022; The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, Chennai (Amendment) Bill, 2022; The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (Amendment) Bill, 2022; The Tamil University (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022; The Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022; The Tamil Nadu Siddha Medical University Bill, 2022; The Tamil Nadu Fisheries University (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Amendment) Bill, 2023.Why does it matter to other states?Tamil Nadu is not the only state that has approached the top court against the decisions of their governors. While Tamil Nadu moved court in 2023, so did Punjab and Telangana, and West Bengal and Kerala approached the apex court in 2024. All of these states are ruled by parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).KeralaIn Kerala, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that there was an unprecedented situation in the state where bills passed by the legislature were kept pending for up to 23 months. Currently, six bills are pending with its governor Rajendra Arlekar.KK Venugopal appeared for the state government on Tuesday, April 8. The top court referred to the Tamil Nadu judgment and deferred Kerala’s petitions to May 13.West BengalIn July 2024, the West Bengal government moved the Supreme Court, accusing the governor C.V. Ananda Bose and his predecessor, Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is now the vice-president, of stalling eight state bills. Seven of these bills pertained to the removal of the governor from the administrative role of state universities and private universities – an issue that saw continuous row between Dhankhar and chief minister Mamata Banerjee during his tenure. The Trinamool Congress government wanted to replace him with a state government nominee, i.e. the chief minister or education minister.Reacting to the Tamil Nadu judgment, West Bengal parliamentary affairs minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay has said that the order vindicated the state government’s stance on the issue. TelanganaOn March 2, 2023, the Telangana government moved the Supreme Court against then governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for sitting on as many as 10 bills pending since 2022, and seeking a direction to the governor to give assent to them.The top court agreed to urgently hear the petition saying Soundararajan had created a “constitutional impasse” by refusing to act on the bills passed by the state legislature.However, when the case came up for hearing in April 2023, the governor stated that no bills passed by the state legislature were pending with her. Hours before the hearing was scheduled, she had signed off on three pending bills; two bills she said were sent for presidential assent and she had rejected one bill.PunjabIn October 2023, the Punjab government moved the Supreme Court against then governor Banwarilal Purohit for keeping four bills pending. In November, a three-judge bench of the top court directed the governor to make a decision in accordance with the constitution. The court reportedly also reproached the governor for keeping the bills pending. It said that “in a parliamentary form of democracy, real power vests in the elected representatives”, while the governor, as an appointee of the President, is just a “titular head” of the state.The governor later reserved three bills and sent the fourth one for presidential assent.KarnatakaTerming the Tamil Nadu judgment “wonderful”, the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka welcomed the top court order as it sped up their issue regarding bills that had been pending with governor Thawar Chand Gehlot. The state government has been in a tussle with the governor who reportedly stalled key cooperative sector bills. Following a seven-month delay, he had returned them, asking for clarifications – which the government provided. Again, in February 2025, the governor had rejected two bills, calling the clarifications “unsatisfactory.”Currently, two bills are pending with the governor, while five have been forwarded to the President for assent.
