SC sets 3-month limit for president’s assent to Bills

'This is a historic judgement. Now, several issues pending before the top court related to the governor's discretion will also be decided,' says Sibal

- 

While resolving a vexed constitutional situation in Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court (SC) is believed to have set a three-month deadline for Presidential and gubernatorial assentto bills passed by the legislature for the second time-a decision sparking an outcry over possible “judicial outreach" by seeking to bring Presidential actions under judicial review.

A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan set aside Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi’s decision to withhold assent to pending |O bills and, in the process, ruled that the President should also not take more than three months in arriving at a decision on bills referred by governors.

The Bench’s verdict, uploaded on its website on Friday evening, seeks to reinterpret the Constitutional scheme of things and casts a shadow on the federal relations between the Centre and states.

It said that the President's functions are amenable to judicial review under Article 201 with the heading “Bills reserved for consideration.”

Article 201 states: When a Bill is reserved by a Governor for the consideration of the President, the President shall declare either that he assents to the Bill or that he withholds assent therefrom.