In a significant turn of events, at least ten Bills approved by the Tamil Nadu Assembly since 2020 have now officially turned into laws, despite being denied assent by Governor RN Ravi and not being signed by President Droupadi Murmu. This comes after the recent Supreme Court ruling regarding the matter of Governors delaying approval of Bills.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court criticized the Tamil Nadu Governor, claiming that his choice to deny approval for ten important Bills was “illegal” and “arbitrary”. The Bench, made up of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan, stated that the Governor cannot hold Bills for the President after refusing to give assent and must be overturned.
“The action of the Governor to reserve the 10 bills for the President is illegal and arbitrary. Thus, the action is set aside. All actions taken by the Governor thereto for the 10 bills are set aside. These Bills shall be deemed to be cleared from the date it was re-presented to the Governor,” the bench said.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin praised the “historic judgment,” noting that the Governor had sent back multiple Bills approved by the Assembly without giving assent due to his antagonistic conflict with the DMK administration.
Consequently, these Bills were formally enacted as laws on November 18, 2023, the date the DMK government released notifications to confirm this. Included are regulations that revise the procedures for selecting Vice Chancellors of government universities, greatly limiting the Governor’s authority in the appointment process.
The government of Tamil Nadu published a gazette notification stating that in accordance with the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Governor will be considered to have approved the Bills on November 18, 2023, at the time they were submitted.
“DMK means History,” Stalin stated on X in reaction to the development. The DMK and the Governor have been at odds on several matters.
