New Delhi: India’s Supreme Court has ruled that neither governors nor the President can be bound by fixed timelines when giving assent to bills passed by state assemblies, and that the judiciary cannot confer “deemed assent” in such matters.

A five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice BR Gavai and including Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar, delivered the unanimous verdict. The court held that allowing governors to withhold bills without following due process under Article 200 (power to governor to provide assent to bills passed by assembly) of the Constitution would undermine the principles of federalism.

“We do not think governors have unfettered power to sit indefinitely over bills passed by state assemblies,” the bench observed.

The ruling ca

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