Court can’t accord assent to Bills, only Guv and Prez can: Maharashtra to SC

New Delhi: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday argued in the Supreme Court that courts couldn’t accord assent to Bills passed by state Assemblies as the power vested only in governors or President.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing Maharashtra, made the submissions before a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice B R Gavai.

He was appearing in the hearing over the presidential reference on whether the court could impose timelines for governors and President to deal with Bills passed by state Assemblies.

“The court cannot issue a writ of mandamus asking the governors to grant assent to Bills… Assent to a law cannot be given by the court. Assent to a law has to be given either by governors or by President,” Salve submitted before the bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar.

A bench-led by Justice J B Pardiwala invoked apex court’s power under Article 142 to grant assent to Tamil Nadu Bills. Referring to Article 361 of the Constitution, Salve said President, or Governor “shall not be answerable to any court for the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of his office or for any act done or purporting to be done by him in the exercise and performance of those powers and duties”.

He said the court could only inquire into decisions, including the proposed ones, by governors or President.

“The court can only ask what your decision is. But the court cannot ask why you have taken a decision,” Salve added.

Distinguishing the powers of President and governors, he said while the former acts only on the aid and advice of the central government, the latter possesses wider powers, including the authority to withhold assent.

“It is not a feature of Indian federalism that an assent must follow after a few rounds of confabulations. We have a limited federalism with hope that all these functionaries will act with wisdom,” he said.

He said Governor’s power was not amenable to judicial review.