Illegal: SC Sets Aside TN Guv's Reservation of 10 Bills

Sets Timeline in a First

- MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: In a huge win for the MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Governor RN Ravi's decision to withhold assent to 10 key Bills was "illegal" and "arbitrary". The court ruled that the Governor cannot reserve Bills for the President after withholding assent.

"The action of the Governor to reserve the 10 Bills for the President is illegal and arbitrary. Thus, the action is set aside. All actions taken by the Governor thereto for the 10 Bills are set aside. These Bills shall be deemed to be cleared from the date it was re-presented to the Governor," the bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan said. The court said Governor Ravi did not act in "good faith".

"Action of the Governor to reserve the 10 Bills for the President is illegal and arbitrary and thus the action is set aside," the court held, adding that the 10 Bills shall be deemed to be cleared from the date it was re-presented to the Governor.

In the first of its kind directions, the top court fixed a timeline within which the Governor has to act on Bills passed by the state legislature.

The top court prescribed timelines to exercise these options and said missing these timelines would invite judicial scrutiny of the Governor's action. The court has earmarked a one-month deadline for Governors to withhold assent to a Bill and reserve it for the President's review with the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. When a Bill is reserved without the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, this deadline will be three months. If a Bill is presented to a Governor after reconsideration by the state Assembly, he/she must clear it within a month. Any exercise of the Governor under Article 200, the court said, is amenable to judicial review.