In a massive win for the MK Stalin led government in Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court has ruled that Governor RN Ravi's decision to withhold assent for key bills was "illegal" and "arbitrary."
The matter, which was heard by a bench of Justices B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan ruled - "The action of the Governor to reserve the 10 bills for the President is illegal and arbitrary. Thus, the action is set aside. All actions taken by the Governor thereto for the 10 bills are set aside. These Bills shall be deemed to be cleared from the date it was re-presented to the Governor."
The court further ruled that the governor did not act in "good faith."
This is a developing story...
The oldest bills, withheld by the Governor for assent, dates back to January 2020.
The Court stated that these 10 bills "deemed to have received the assent of the Governor when they were presented in the second round after they were passed again by the State Assembly."
"As a general rule, it is not open for the Governor to reserve a Bill for the President after the bills have been re-presented by the Government after being passed again by the Assembly. The only exception is when the bill presented in the second round is different from the first version," Justice JB Pardiwala was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.
The court added that in case a governor is holding back on assent, the bills in question must be sent back to the State Assembly for reconsideration.
As per the Attorney General appearing for the Tamil Nadu government, the governor did not send the bills back to the Assembly.
The bench further added that the governor cannot withhold assent and adopt concept of absolute veto or pocket veto, adding that a governor is obligated to adopt one course of action -- give assent to Bills, withhold assent and reserve for consideration of the president.
