Centre Warns Of 'Constitutional Chaos' Over Supreme Court's Timeline Order To Governors

The Central government has issued a warning against imposing a timeline on the President and Governors for clearing bills in light of the earlier Supreme Court order which prescribed a three-month deadline for the same, NDTV reported. The government said that such timelines would amount to an organ of the government usurping powers that are not vested in it. 

The warning was submitted through a written submission to the top court stating that this would lead to an imbalance in the delicate separation of powers, thereby causing "constitutional chaos”. 

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta asserted that, “Even under its extraordinary powers vested in Article 142, the Supreme Court cannot amend the Constitution or defeat the intent of the Constitution makers, provided there are no such procedural mandates in the constitutional text." 

He argued that the offices of the President and Governor represent “higher ideals of democratic governance” and lapses pertaining to these should be dealt through political and constitutional mechanisms, instead of judicial interventions.  

Though there may be "some limited problems in implementation" of the assent process, these cannot justify "reducing the higher office of the Governor to a subordinate one,” he said. 

The SC, one April 12, in relation to a Tamil Nadu case, had ordered the constitutional heads to follow a timeline when clearing pending bills. Following the order, President Droupadi Murmu posed 14 questions in front of the court seeking its opinion on the powers of the President and Governors under Articles 200 and 201 in dealing with bills passed by the state legislatures.

A five-judge bench comprising Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, PS Narsimha, and Atul S Chandurkar, headed by CJI BR Gavai will begin hearing the case on August 19.