5-judge bench agrees with 2-judge bench on only one point: Guv can't sit on bill indefinitely

NEW DELHI: The Tamil Nadu govt's 2023 writ petition accusing the governor of deliberately not acting on 10 bills passed by the state assembly had led a two-judge Supreme Court bench to pen a 415-page judgment on April 8, stripping the constitutional heads of states of the minimal discretionary power conferred on them by the Constitution. Alarmed by the strong forays made by the judiciary into the legislative powers of the constitutional heads of the country and states, the President on May 14 sent a 14-question reference in exercise of her powers under Article 143 to seek SC's opinion, virtually on each ruling of the two-judge bench as also whether the ambit of SC's exclusive powers under Article 142 included granting deemed assent to bills. In its 111-page judgment, a bench of CJI B R