SC cannot intervene until ‘Bill’ becomes law after Governor’s assent: Puducherry

Union Territory of Puducherry has seconded the Presidential Reference, saying a Bill does not become law until the Governor or the President assents.

Puducherry’s affidavit, signed by Chief Secretary Sharat Chauhan, said judiciary should not get entangled at the stage of Bill and intervene in inchoate legislative policymaking.

The Union Territory agreed with the Centre that the President and Governors have discretionary powers under Article 201 and 200 while dealing with the question of approval of State Bills. These discretions were not justiciable.

The 63-page affidavit disagreed with the April 8 judgment of the apex court in the Tamil Nadu Governor case fixing timelines for the President and the Governors, noting the Constitution did not fix any specific time limits for them.

“The silence of the Constitution was conscious and purposeful, intended to uphold the institutional discretion, dignity and gravitas of the offices of President and Governor… It is worth noting that the judiciary cannot usurp the role of the legislature and decide as to which Bill is to be passed or within what timeframe the Bill would come into effect. It is wholly, completely and unambiguously, a legislative function under the purview and ambit of the legislature and such functions cannot be exercised by the courts,” Puducherry pointed out.

The Union Territory argued that judicial review could take place only after a Bill became law. The Supreme Court cannot assume the powers of the President and Governors and grant ‘deemed assent’ to State Bills. This would only lead to the court becoming a judge in its own case later on when the constitutionality of the law came to be challenged in court.

“In case of such deemed assents through use of Article 142, not only would the legislative domain be breached but the courts would become a judge in their own cause, if those laws were to be challenged judicially or taken up for judicial review,” the Union Territory reasoned. eom