The Landmark Ruling

IN a landmark judgment on April 8, 2025, the Supreme Court deemed Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi's refusal to assent to 10 state bills as illegal and unconstitutional.

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The verdict, delivered by Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan, came in response to a writ petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government challenging the Governor's prolonged inaction on important bills.

The case...

The case stemmed from a prolonged standoff between the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government and Governor RN Ravi.

Between November 2020 and April 2023, the state legislature passed 13 bills, of which 10 were either withheld or sent back to the Assembly by the Governor without any communication When the legislature re-approved the bills without any material changes, Governor Ravi still did not assent to the bills; reserving them for the President's consideration, which the court found unconstitutional.

The Constitution says...

Under Article 200 of the Constitution, when a bill is passed by state legislature, the Governor has four options:

Assent to the bill

Withhold assent Return the bill (not a money bill) for reconsideration

Reserve the bill for the President's consideration.

However, the Article does not prescribe a timeline, allowing room for ambiguity.

The Supreme Court clarified that this cannot be interpreted to allow indefinite delays or misuse of discretionary powers.

What the top court ruled?