New Delhi: Over two days have passed since the Supreme Court passed a landmark judgment calling Tamil Nadu governor R.N. Ravi’s action regarding legislation passed by the state assembly “illegal and erroneous”. However, the written judgement of the case has still not been uploaded on the apex court’s website, leading some legal reporters to question the delay on social media. The two-judge bench’s judgement is significant not only because it defined Article 200 of the constitution but also because of its political reflection on the Narendra Modi government. The court set aside Ravi’s move to reserve as many as 10 Bills for the President’s nod and held that the governor “did not act with bona fides” as the Bills passed by the state assembly were sent to the President only after Ravi had sat on them for a long period of time. The matter of delay in uploading the judgement was flagged by senior legal journalist and Bar and Bench’s editor of court matters, Murali Krishnan on X on April 10: “The Supreme Court judgement on Governor’s powers is yet to be published on court website despite two days having passed after it was pronounced. Usually, judgements are uploaded on the court website within hours or even minutes of pronouncement”. Legal journalist Saurav Das wrote on X: “How interesting. Will be highly disgraceful if the judgement doesn’t sat what was so clearly pronounced in open court that day”. On the morning of April 11, as many as 13 judgements passed between April 8 and 9 were uploaded on the court’s website. This includes a judgement passed by the same two-judge bench led by Justice J.B. Pardiwala that had passed the significant order in response to a plea by the Tamil Nadu government.Following the apex court’s observations in the judgement, there have been widespread demands for Ravi’s resignation from the gubernatorial post. Some have cited how in 2005, following the apex court’s censure, Buta Singh had to step down as governor of Bihar. Soon after the judgement, noted Supreme Court lawyer Sanjay Hegde said on X, “Buta Singh, as governor of Bihar, resigned when the Supreme Court set aside his recommendation of President’s rule. When the Supreme Court holds the governor’s action ‘not bona fide’, his continuance is untenable.”
