{"id":43503,"date":"2025-05-16T21:57:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T16:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=43503"},"modified":"2025-05-16T21:58:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T16:28:17","slug":"presidential-reference-sc-on-timeline-to-act-on-state-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-05-2025\/presidential-reference-sc-on-timeline-to-act-on-state-bills","title":{"rendered":"Presidential Reference to SC on Timeline to Act on State Bills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>President Droupadi Murmu sought the Supreme Court\u2019s advisory opinion <strong>under Article 143<\/strong> on<strong> whether the President and governors need to follow timelines to decide on state bills.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recently, the Supreme Court verdict <strong>laid down a timeline for the President and governors to decide on state bills.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Though, the Governor is not bound by any time limi<\/strong><strong>t to act on a Bill.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This creates a situation where the Governor can simply not act on a Bill indefinitely this is referred to as a<strong> &#8220;Pocket Veto&#8221;<\/strong>, although the term is not officially used in the Constitution.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Supreme Court ruled that <strong>Governors cannot delay or withhold assent to Bills indefinitely <\/strong>once they are passed or re-passed by the state Assembly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The ruling set a timeline for the Governor to act on Bills:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>One month for re-passed Bills.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Three months if the Bill is withheld contrary to Cabinet advice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It raises questions about the<strong> scope of judicial authority under Article 142,<\/strong> and whether the<strong> courts can enforce accountability on constitutional functionaries like Governors and the President.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Article 142?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Article 142 of the Indian constitution <\/strong>is a provision that empowers the Supreme Court to pass any decree or order necessary for doing <strong>complete justice in any case or matter pending before it.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It also makes such decree or order <strong>enforceable throughout the territory of India.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The importance of Article 142 lies in the following aspects:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It enables the Supreme Court to <strong>exercise executive and legislative functions in certain situations,<\/strong> such as issuing guidelines, directions, or orders to the government or other authorities.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It allows the Supreme Court to <strong>intervene in matters of public interest, human rights, constitutional values, or fundamental rights<\/strong>, and to protect them from any violation or infringement.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It enhances the Supreme Court&#8217;s role as the<strong> guardian of the constitution and the final arbiter of the law.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Criticism: <\/strong>It may encroach upon the <strong>principle of separation of powers <\/strong>and the domain of the executive and the legislature, and may <strong>invite criticism of judicial overreach or activism.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Article 143 \u2013 Power of President to consult Supreme Court<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Article 143(1): <\/strong>The President can refer any question of law or fact that is of public importance to the Supreme Court for its advisory opinion.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Court may choose to answer or decline.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The opinion is not binding, but is highly respected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A similar power to make references was granted to the Federal Court of India under Section 213 of the <strong>Government of India Act, 1935<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 145(3)<\/strong> requires any such reference to be heard by <strong>five judges<\/strong>, after which the SC returns the reference to the President with the <strong>majority opinion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Need for the Article:<\/strong> Under the Constitution, the President acts on the aid and advice of the Cabinet.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The advisory jurisdiction allows her the means to <strong>seek independent advice to act on certain constitutional matters.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is a power that the President has invoked on at least 15 occasions since 1950.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In essence, this development is not merely a legal inquiry but a crucial test of India\u2019s federal structure, with implications for the <strong>balance of power between the Centre and the States, judicial oversight, and constitutional morality.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The outcome could redefine<strong> how delays in Bill assent are addressed and reaffirm the judiciary&#8217;s role<\/strong> in safeguarding democratic processes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/tamil-nadu\/tn-cm-stalin-condemns-presidential-reference-on-supreme-courts-verdict-imposing-time-frame-for-assent-of-bills\/article69578375.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">President Droupadi Murmu sought the Supreme Court\u2019s advisory opinion under Article 143 on whether the President and governors need to follow timelines to decide on state bills.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Recently, the Supreme Court verdict laid down a timeline for the President and governors to decide on state bills.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Though, the Governor is not bound by any time limit to act on a Bill.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">This creates a situation where the Governor can simply not act on a Bill indefinitely this is referred to as a &#8220;Pocket Veto&#8221;, although the term is not officially used in the Constitution.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Supreme Court ruled that Governors cannot delay or withhold assent to Bills indefinitely once they are passed or re-passed by the state Assembly.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-05-2025\/presidential-reference-sc-on-timeline-to-act-on-state-bills\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43503"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43525,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43503\/revisions\/43525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}