'Appeal In Disguise' : Tamil Nadu Objects To President's Reference In Supreme Court On Bills' Assent Timelines

The Tamil Nadu Government has filed an application objecting to the maintainability of the Reference made by the President, Droupadi Murmu, seeking the Supreme Court's opinion on certain queries relating to the timelines for granting assent to Bills by the Governors.

The State argued that the queries raised by the President in the Reference under Article 143 are "directly answered" by the judgment in the Tamil Nadu Governor's case, where timelines were laid down for the President and the Governor to act on Bills.

The Reference, which was made just a month after the Judgment in the Tamil Nadu Governor's case was delivered, is an attempt to overrule the said Judgment, the State argued. "Reference is nothing but an Appeal in disguise, which is impermissible in law as this Hon'ble Court has no power to overrule its own judgements by way of Article 143," the State submitted.

Since it was held in the judgment in Ahmedabad St. Xavier's College Society v. State of Gujarat, (1974) 1 SCC 717 (Para-51) that an opinion rendered by this Hon'ble Court in a Presidential Reference under Article 143 of the Constitution is advisory in nature and not binding, the State argued that the present Reference is "headless and devoid of merit."

"It is prima-facie evident that the present Presidential Reference is nothing but an appeal in disguise to disturb the settled law and overrule the findings already pronounced by this Hon'ble Court due to which the present Presidential Reference ceases to raise any such legitimate substantial questions of law leading to an expediency in obtaining the opinion of this Hon'ble Court. Therefore, the Presidential Reference dated 13.05.2025 deserves to be unanswered as a whole and liable to be returned," the State stated.

The State of Kerala, which had also filed cases against the Governor over the delay in granting assent to Bills, also filed a similar application objecting to the maintainability of the Reference.

A Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, Justice Vikram Nath, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice AS Chandurkar will hear the matter tomorrow.

The Tamil Nadu Govt's application was drawn by Advocates Richardson Wilson and Apoorv Malhotra, and settled by Senior Advocate P Wilson. The application was filed through Advocate T Harish Kumar.