On the basis of a Supreme Court judgment that declared the laws as “deemed to have been assented” to by Governor RN Ravi, the Government of Tamil Nadu has notified 10 state Acts in the official gazatte.
This has become the first such instance in India, wherein a state government operationalised a legislation without the assent of the Governor or the President, acting instead on the strength of a Supreme Court judgment under Article 142 of the Constitution.
The notification was issued a day after the Apex Court delivered its verdict berating the Governor’s prolonged delay in giving assent to the bills and his eventual, unconstitutional act of referring them to the President after they were re-enacted by the legislature.
The gazette notification cited the April 8 verdict passed by the Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan.
The top court of the country held that once a bill has been returned by the Governor and re-passed by the legislature, the Governor was constitutionally bound to assent to it and could not be refered to the President.
The notification said the actions of the President, after the date of reserving the abovesaid Bill, was non-est in law and shall be deemed to have been assented to by Governor Ravi on the date on which the said Bill was presented to him for assent.
The Acts primarily concerned the state control over Universities, with several replacing the Governor as Chancellor of key institutions, including the Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University, the MGR Medical University, and the Tamil Nadu Fisheries University.
Exercising its extraordinary power under Article 142, the top court of the country declared that the Bills were deemed to have been assented to on November 18, 2023, the date they were re-submitted to the Governor after being re-enacted.
The Apex Court observed that it was left with no other option but to exercise its inherent powers under Article 142, in view of the scant respect shown by the Governor to the decision of this Court in State of Punjab and other extraneous considerations that appeared to be writ large in the discharge of his functions.