'Illegal & Arbitrary': Supreme Court Raps Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi For Withholding Assent To Bills' CM Stalin Welcomes Verdict

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi for his decision to withhold assent to ten key Bills. The top court termed the decision “illegal" and “arbitrary". A Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, passed the judgment. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin welcomed the Supreme Court's decision.

The bench stated that the Governor cannot reserve Bills for the President after withholding assent. "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," the bench ruled as reported by NDTV.

"These Bills shall be deemed to be cleared from the date it was re-presented to the Governor," it added.

The top court also observed that the governor did not act in "good faith". The top court observed that the bills were sent to the President after Ravi himself sat over them for a long time. It added that the bills were reserved for the President after the Supreme Court's judgment in the Punjab Governor's case, reported Live Law. Notably, in the Punjab Governor's case, the top court's judgment held that the governor cannot take a long time to send the bills to the President.

Under Article 200, the Governor has the options when the state assembly passes the bill.

The Bench said that under Article 200 of the Constitution, the governor does not possess any discretion and has to mandatorily act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers.

Article 200 of the Constitution deals with assent to Bills. Notably, the governor can send a bill bill back to the House or Houses for reconsideration of some provisions. Notably, if the house passes the bill again, the governor cannot withhold the assent.

The governor can also send it for consideration of the President if he/she finds that the bill is at at odds with the Constitution.

The bench said the governor cannot withhold assent and adopt the concept of absolute veto or pocket veto. It said the governor is obligated to adopt one course of action -- give assent to Bills, withhold assent and reserve for consideration of the president.

The bench said it was not open for the governor to reserve the Bill for consideration of the president after it was presented to him for the second time.

It said the governor must assent to the Bills produced before him in the second round and the only exception is in case the Bill in the second round is different from the first one.