The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a reference from President Droupadi Murmu regarding its April 8 ruling that set timelines for governors and the president to assent to bills passed by legislatures, Live Law reported.

A bench led by Chief Justice BR Gavai and comprising Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar, heard the case for ten days.

The bench is likely to deliver its opinion within two months, before Gavai retires on November 23, Bar and Bench reported.

The April ruling came on a petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government after Governor RN Ravi did not act on several bills for more than three years before rejecting them and sending some to the president.

The court had held that governors must decide on bills within a reasonable time and cannot delay indefinitely under Article 200. Similarly, the president must act within three months under Article 201 and any delay beyond that must be explained and communicated to the state government.

Both provisions outline the process of assent to bills by governors and the president.

The judgement had also introduced the concept of “deemed assent” in cases of prolonged inaction, allowing pending bills to be considered approved.

In May, Murmu made the reference to the court under Article 143(1) of the Constitution.

Article 143(1) allows the president to ask for the opinion and the advice of the court on matters of legal and public importance.

On Thursday, the final day of hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, contested the submissions of Opposition-ruled states – Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh – which opposed the presidential reference, PTI reported.

Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Goa and Chhattisgarh have defended the functional autonomy of governors and the president in assenting to bills passed by state legislatures.

Earlier, advocates KK Venugopal and Kapil Sibal, representing Kerala and Tamil Nadu respectively, had argued that the issues raised by the president were already settled by a series of Supreme Court rulings, including the April 8 verdict.

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