Background
The Tamil Nadu government sent 12 Bills to Governor R.N. Ravi for assent between January 2020 and April 2023.
These Bills were related to higher education and the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in State universities.
The Governor kept the Bills pending for over three years without acting on them.
In November 2023, the State approached the Supreme Court over the delay.
Governor’s Action
In response, the Governor referred two Bills to the President and withheld assent to 10 others.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly re-passed these 10 Bills in a special session and sent them again to the Governor.
The Governor argued that the Bills increased the State’s power over university appointments and Vice-Chancellors, which he found concerning, as higher education is a concurrent subject under the Constitution.
Supreme court actions
The Supreme Court asked why the Governor took over three years to act and what he found "gross" about the Bills.
Once re-passed, the Governor had no reason to withhold consent.
The Governor’s lawyer argued that he had the constitutional right to withhold assent if he found issues with the Bills’ provisions.
SC criticized Governor’s actions, saying his reasoning didn’t make sense and that he was following his own procedure instead of the constitutional one.
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