'Governor has no veto power, keeping bills pending is illegal', SC's important comment on Tamil Nadu Government vs Governor case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday made an important comment on the dispute between the Tamil Nadu government and the Governor. The court said that the withholding of 10 bills for the President's consideration by Governor RN Ravi is a violation of constitutional provisions.

'You have no discretion'

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said that under Article 200 of the Constitution, the Governor has no discretion and he essentially has to work on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.

Article 200 of the Constitution deals with assent on bills.

The Governor has no right to veto

The bench said that the Governor cannot adopt the concept of absolute veto or pocket veto by withholding assent. The bench further said that the Governor is bound to adopt only one path - to give assent to the bills, or to stop the bill and reserve it for the President's consideration.

...then the Governor will have to give assent

The Supreme Court also said that the Governor does not have the option to stop the bill for consideration after it is presented to the President for the second time. The court said that the Governor will have to give his assent to the Bills presented before him in the second round and the only exception would be if the second round Bill is different from the first round Bill.