TN guv Ravi was sitting on bills illegally, SC rules

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi for attempting to thwart the will of an elected legislature, declared his decision to reserve 10 re-passed bills for presidential assent as "illegal", and laid down timelines to curb inaction by governors across the country, in a landmark judgment that seeks to reassert constitutional discipline, curtail gubernatorial overreach, and reiterate India's federalism.

- Utkarsh Anand

Calling out what it described as a "growing and dangerous" trend of governors creating political roadblocks to frustrate state governments, a bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan underlined that governors must function within the four corners of the Constitution and not derail the democratic will of the people expressed through their elected representatives.

"The governor must be conscious to not create roadblocks or chokehold the state legislature in order to thwart and break the will of the people for political considerations," said the bench, holding that Ravi's actions lacked bona fides and amounted to an impermissible "pocket veto".

It ruled that the 10 billsre-passed by the Tamil Nadu assembly after initially being withheld were deemed to have received the governor's assent on the day they were returned to him, setting aside any contrary action taken subsequently.

Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin welcomed the verdict, hailing it as "historic" and a victory for all state governments. "We thank and welcome today's historic judgment of the Supreme Court, reaffirming the legislative rights of state legislatures and putting an end to the trend of Union government-nominated governors stalling progressive legislative reforms in Opposition-ruled states," he said.

Following the verdict, attorney general R Venkataramani, appearing for the governor's office, requested time to return on the issue of the court invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 to deem the bills passed a matter that may continue to unfold.