NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court has, for the first time, set a three-month deadline for the President to decide on bills forwarded by state governors from the date of receipt.
“We deem it appropriate to adopt the timeline prescribed by the ministry of home affairs… and prescribe that the President is required to take a decision on the bills reserved for his consideration by the governor within a period of three months from the date on which such reference is received,” the SC said.
“In case of any delay beyond this period, appropriate reasons would have to be recorded and conveyed to the concerned State. The States are also required to be collaborative and extend co-operation by furnishing answers to the queries which may be raised and consider the suggestions made by the Central government expeditiously,” it added.
This comes four days after the apex court approved 10 bills that had been stalled and reserved by Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi for the President Droupadi Murmu‘s consideration—and established a timeline for all governors to act on bills passed by state assemblies—the 415-page judgment was uploaded to the apex court’s website at 10.54pm on Friday.
On April 8, a bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan nullified the second round of reserving the 10 bills for the President’s consideration, declaring it illegal and legally flawed.
