Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, heading a five-judge Presidential Reference Bench, on Wednesday (September 10, 2025) pointed to Governors sitting on Bills for years together even as the Union government referred to disputes raised by Opposition-ruled States such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala over inexplicable gubernatorial delay as a “false alarm”.
“The Governor cannot be reduced to an ornamental head of State. We may have had some aberrations, but for the past 55 years every Governor has acted in a way expected of them, in a collaborative manner,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted. He objected to Opposition-ruled States’ argument that instances of Governors delaying Bills had increased after the NDA government came to power in 2014 at the Centre.
Also read: Governors must act as true guides and philosophers to States: CJI
Appearing for both Tamil Nadu and its ruling party of DMK, senior advocate P. Wilson argued that a Bill was an “expression of political will”.“A Governor cannot act like a constitutional court, adjudicate on the constitutionality of a Bill and unilaterally withhold it… If timelines are not set for gubernatorial assent to Bill, States will be left to wander the corridors of the court,” he submitted.
