‘In 2024, 18% Bills by states took over three months to get governors’ assent’

New Delhi: There was a wide variation in time taken by governors to give assent to Bills in 2024 and around 18 per cent Bills across states took more than three months to get the final clearance, a report by thinktank PRS Legislative Research said.

The report comes amid an ongoing debate following the Supreme Court’s verdict that the President should decide on the bills reserved for her consideration by the governor within three months from the date on which such reference is received.

The Annual Review of State Laws report of PRS released on Thursday said in states like Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Mizoram and Rajasthan, all bills received assent within a month.

Across states, 60 per cent of Bills received assent from the governor within a month.

“In 2024, across states, there was wide variation in the time taken by governors to give assent to bills,” the PRS report said.

States where a high proportion of bills got assent after more than three months include Congress ruled Himachal Pradesh (72 per cent of Bills passed), Trinamool Congress ruled West Bengal (38 per cent), as well as Sikkim (56 per cent). Of the Bills passed in 2024, 18 per cent got assent after more than three months. These include Bills awaiting assent as of April, 2025.

The Tamil Nadu government had approached the Supreme Court regarding 12 B, pending with the governor, which were passed by the legislature between 2020 and 2023. After notice from the court, in 2023, the governor returned 10 of these Bills to the Assembly. When the legislature passed them again, the governor reserved the Bills for the President’s opinion, and the Bills have been pending since then.

The Supreme Court is also set to hear a petition regarding seven Bills pending for assent by the governor of Kerala.

Some states have had issues with summoning of session and governor’s address, the report said, as assembly session begins with the governor summoning the House, and ends when the governor prorogues it.

In February 2023, the Punjab government had approached the Supreme Court, stating that the governor was not summoning the Budget Session. The court stated that the governor was bound by the advice given by the state Cabinet.

Some states did not prorogue sessions, thus enabling the Speaker to call sittings without requiring the summons from the governor. In 2024, sessions continued for more than six months in Delhi, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal without prorogation, with long gaps between sittings. In Delhi, a session continued from February to December 2024.

In Tamil Nadu, the same session continued from February to December 2024, with 18 sittings.

In West Bengal, a session which began in July 2023 has not been prorogued as of May 2025. In Tamil Nadu, in February 2024, the governor had refused to read his address to the assembly and had walked out of the House; a similar incident also happened in January 2025.