Courts cannot fix deadlines for Guv, Prez on assent to Bills: SC

A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday held that courts cannot prescribe timelines for governors or the President of India to act on Bills sent to them under Articles 200 and 201 of the Constitution.

- BHAVINI MISHRA

“We have no hesitation in concluding that deemed consent of the governor or the President under Article 200 or 201 at the expiry of a judicially set timeline is virtually a takeover, and substitution, of the executive functions by the Judiciary through judicial pronouncement, which is impermissible within the contours of our written Constitution,” the apex court held.

‘The opinion came in response to a reference made by President Droupadi Murmu under Article 143, seeking clarity on the constitutional framework governing assent, withholding, and reservation of Bills. The bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) B R Gavai and Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, P S Narasimha, and A S Chandurkar ruled that introducing courtmandated deadlines or recognising “deemed assent” would violate the separation of powers. The judges held that treating assent as automatically granted after a judicially fixed period would amount to replacing the constitutionally assigned role of the governor or the President with the judiciary’s direction.