Overview

• During day nine of hearings on the Presidential Reference, the bench said governors are expected to act within a reasonable time on bills even without explicit deadlines in the Constitution.
• The Chief Justice questioned the Centre’s portrayal of delays as a false alarm, citing instances of governors holding bills for years, including Tamil Nadu’s report of 10 bills pending since 2020.
• The Centre argued governors are not rubber stamps and may exercise discretion under Article 200, with the Solicitor General insisting the option to withhold assent cannot be reduced to a temporary step.
• Opposition-ruled states urged clarity through specific timelines and stressed that governors are bound by ministerial advice, highlighting urgency for money bills and asserting no scope for indefinite withholding.
• The Centre presented figures claiming 90% of bills since 1970 got assent within a month and only about 20 saw assent withheld, prompting the bench to object to new data after others were barred from citing similar statistics.