SC: Sitting on bills will leave elected govt at Guv's whims

On the second day of the hearing in the Presidential reference case on Wednesday, the Supreme Court observed that in case a governor has the power to permanently withhold assent to the Bills passed by the State legislature, the situation might arise that would leave the elected State government at the whims and fancies of an unelected governor.

- Suchitra Kalyan Mohanty @ New Delhi

"Would we not be giving total powers to the governor to sit in over appeals? The government elected with the majority will be at the whims and fancies of governor," observed Chief Justice B R Gavai, leading the five-judge Constitution bench.

The top court passed the remark after the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, argued that the governor under Article 200 of the Constitution can withhold assent to a Bill, making it "fall through" with no option to send it back to the legislature.