The Supreme Court on Tuesday scheduled the Presidential Reference hearing between August 19 to September 10, on whether the Court will lay down timelines and procedures for the President and State Governors when considering Bills passed by the State legislature.
The Court granted the first one hour to the States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu to raise their point to the maintainability of the Reference. After their submissions, the Court will start hearing Attorney General and Union supporting the reference on 19, 20, 21, 26 of August.
The remaining parties opposing the Presidential reference will be heard on 28 August, and 2, 3, 9 of September. It added that, if any Rejoinder has to file anything, it would be heard on September 10.
The apex has stated there will be no alteration in the schedule in any circumstances. The court has also appointed Advocates Aman Mehta and Nisha Rohatgi as the nodal counsel on the sides of the Union and the parties opposing reference, respectively.
A five-judge Constitution Bench of the top court, headed by the Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and comprising Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar, asked the parties to file their respective written submissions by August 12.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear first a simultaneous challenge raised by Tamil Nadu and Kerala against the maintainability of a Presidential Reference questioning the power of the Court to draw timelines for the President and State Governors while dealing with State Bills sent for approval.
Senior Advocate and former Attorney General of India, K K Venugopal, appearing for the State of Kerala, informed the Court that the SC had already answered 11 questions out of 14 that the Presidential reference had sent in the State of Tamil Nadu Vs the Governor of Tamil Nadu (2025) case.
Similarly, senior lawyers, Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi and P Wilson, also submitted that the Tamil Nadu Government has also filed a plea opposing the validity of the Reference.
