The Supreme Court has delivered a key verdict invoking its powers to declare all the ten bills kept pending by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi as approved. These bills were withheld for the President’s assent. This is felt a thumping victory of DMK party over TN’s constitutional authority. Why the Governor plays an adamant role against his government. All political parties of the State welcomed SC’s judgment except BJP and its friendly party AIADMK. It is a lesson to all gubernatorial people in the States.

Dr N S R Murthy, Secunderabad

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It is a landmark verdict by Supreme Court. Governors of opposition-ruled states should know that they are Constitutional figure heads bound by the advice of the elected state government. By stalling the bills, the TN Governor behaved more like the opposition than a Constitutional head. The Court has rightly set a time frame within which Governors must act on bills passed by State assemblies.

Zakir Hussain, Kazipet

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Does the SC have power to levy time frame on the Governor for giving assent to bills passed by the legislative? Who will then fix the time frame for the five crore and odd cases pending in our courts for decades together pending disposal? Or is it judicial overreach? The NJAC passed by the parliament was stayed by the court. Huge currency was recovered from the house of a judge. Judicial reforms cry out for immediate attention.

N R Ramachandran, Chennai

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It is a slap in the face of T N Governor R N Ravi who should be ashamed of his behavior which borders on more loyal than the King! For long the DMK sarkar in TN has been having frequent skirmishes with this Governor. And such serious differences are common when there are two diagonally opposite political parties confronting each other. More so where DMK is concerned. The CM of TN is firmly in his saddle and can’t be rattled at this point. And the Apex Court’s order is a shot in the arm for him now. Therefore, RN Ravi should resign and leave TN for a greener pasture, if assigned by the NDA sarkar at the Centre.

Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada

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The CM of Tamil Nadu as also the people of the state must thank the Supreme Court for clipping the wings of the Governor of the state. In one deft stroke, the apex court ruled that a Governor can’t sit over bills passed by the legislature of a state till the cows come home. Furthermore, it even set timelines for Governors beyond which they can’t sit over bills cleared by the state legislature, out of sheer malice or ego clashes with the CM of the state. By extrapolation, non-BJP ruled states like Punjab, West Bengal, Telangana and Kerala will also heave a sigh of relief. The tussle between the Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin and Governor RN Ravi had been going on for far too long and was getting more and more embarrassing by the day. One only hopes that Governors will not pull something out of their hats to bypass/dodge the SC’s order.

Avinash Godboley, Dewas, MP

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The Supreme Court’s landmark verdict in the Tamil Nadu Governor case is a powerful reaffirmation of constitutional supremacy. Otherwise, day in and day out we hear the news of interference of Governors in the routine working of the state governments. Also, the apex court laid down that there was no scope for the Governor to simply withhold assent, adding that under Article 200 of the Constitution, the Governor does not possess any discretion and must mandatorily act on the aid and advice of the Chief Minister and his council of ministers. Across the country, Governors—appointed by the Centre and often drawn from partisan political backgrounds—have increasingly acted as stumbling blocks in opposition-ruled states. From delaying Bills and ordinances to interfering in university appointments and withholding permissions, the office has become a site of friction rather than federal balance. The verdict makes things clearer now. The Governor is not an overlord but a facilitator. “He must be the catalyst and not the inhibitor,” the Court observed, underlining the Governor’s duty to act with “dispassion, sagacity, and in allegiance to his constitutional oath.”

Yash Pal Ralhan, Jalandhar