Presidential Reference Case: For how long can the President or the Governor retain any bill passed by the Legislative Assembly? Can the timeline be fixed in this regard for the President or the Governor? The Supreme Court has made its stand clear on the advice sought by the President through the Presidential Reference Case.

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The country’s top constitutional court has made it clear that no timeline can be fixed for the President or the Governor to approve any bill. This means that the Governor or the President can take a decision as per their discretion on the bill sent for approval by the Parliament or the State Assembly. However, the Supreme Court also made it clear that the President or the Governor cannot put any bill on hold indefinitely. The bench of five judges said that the courts can consider this from time to time while exercising limited judicial powers.

The Supreme Court, while giving an important decision on Thursday, said that no time limit can be set for the Governor and the President regarding approving the bills passed in the State Assemblies and the Judiciary also cannot give them valid approval. A five-judge Constitution bench led by Chief Justice (CJI) Justice BR Gavai unanimously held that it would be against the interest of federalism if the Governor is allowed to stall the Bills without following due procedure under Article 200 (Governor’s power to assent to Bills passed by the Assembly). The bench that delivered this verdict also included Justice Surya Kant, Justice Vikram Nath, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice AS Chandurkar.