The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that courts cannot prescribe timelines for the President or Governors to grant assent to Bills passed by state legislatures and said the concept of “deemed assent” is contrary to the constitutional framework.

A Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud — responding to a Presidential reference following the verdict in the Tamil Nadu Bills case — held that fixing a deadline for constitutional authorities would run counter to the flexibility built into Articles 200 and 201.

The Bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, P.S. Narasimha and Atul S. Chandurkar, observed that imposing a judicial time limit would amount to “supplanting the authority of another constitutional organ”.

The court stated that while the Governor’s decis

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