Supreme Court sets 3-month deadline for President to decide on bills reserved for consideration

In an unprecedented ruling, the Supreme Court prescribed that the president must decide on the bills reserved for her consideration by the governor within a period of three months from the date on which such reference is received, PTI reported.

“We deem it appropriate to adopt the timeline prescribed by the Ministry of Home Affairs... and prescribe that the President is required to take a decision on the bills reserved for his consideration by the Governor within a period of three months from the date on which such reference is received,” the top court said.

It added, in the event of any delay beyond the stipulated period, valid reasons would need to be documented and communicated to the concerned state, mentioning states were expected to cooperate by providing timely responses to any queries raised and to give prompt consideration to the central government's suggestions.

"In case of any delay beyond this period, appropriate reasons would have to be recorded and conveyed to the concerned State. The States are also required to be collaborative and extend co-operation by furnishing answers to the queries which may be raised and consider the suggestions made by the Central government expeditiously," it added.

It further said, "Where the Governor reserves a Bill for the consideration of the President and the President in turn withholds assent thereto then, it shall be open to the State Government to assail such an action before this Court".

Supreme Court set timeline for Governors

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan on April 8 set aside the reservation of the 10 bills for the president's consideration in the second round holding it as illegal, erroneous in law.

It cleared 10 bills, which were stalled and reserved by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi for the president's consideration, and set a timeline for all governors to act on the bills passed by the state assemblies, the 415-page order was made public at 10:54 pm on Friday.

The delay in giving assent by the governor prompted the Tamil Nadu government to move the top court in 2023, claiming 12 bills, comprising one from 2020, were pending with him.

The governor stated he was withholding assent to 10 bills on November 13, 2023, after which the legislative assembly convened a special session and re-enacted the very same bills on November 18, 2023. Later, some of the bills were reserved for the president's consideration.

(With inputs from PTI)