New Delhi, July 31: India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday scheduled a Constitution Bench hearing for August 19 to consider preliminary objections raised by the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala against the maintainability of a Presidential Reference concerning the powers of the President and Governors in dealing with state legislation.
The five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, agreed to first hear arguments from the two states, which have urged the Court to return the Reference unanswered. The states argue that the issues raised in the Presidential Reference have already been settled in previous Supreme Court rulings.
Senior advocate K.K. Venugopal, representing Kerala, pressed the Court to prioritise the question of maintainability. “A preliminary hearing should be held on the maintainability of the Reference. This should be done first,” he said. The Attorney General of India, R. Venkataramani, supported the request, saying the states must be given a full opportunity to present their case.
The Reference, filed by the Union government under Article 143 of the Constitution, questions the Court’s power to prescribe timelines for the President and Governors to act on bills passed by state legislatures. Tamil Nadu and Kerala have called the move an “appeal in disguise” aimed at bypassing the April 8 Supreme Court judgment that upheld time-bound action by Governors on pending state bills.
Kerala argued that the Supreme Court has already delivered authoritative rulings on the matter in cases filed by the states of Telangana, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu. “When the Supreme Court in its adjudicatory jurisdiction pronounces its authoritative opinion on a question of law, it cannot be said that there is any doubt… to require the President to know what the true position of law is,” Kerala’s written submission said.
The state further contended that if the Union government disagreed with the April 8 ruling, it should have sought a review or filed a curative petition, rather than resorting to a Presidential Reference.
The Court directed all parties to submit their written arguments by August 12. The Union government will be heard on August 19, 20, 21, and 26. The states and other opposing parties will respond on August 28 and September 2, 3, and 9, followed by a government rebuttal on September 10.
Chief Justice Gavai stressed that all sides must “follow timelines scrupulously.” The bench also ruled that all counsel, except for Mr. Venugopal, must appear in person. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta supported the exemption, describing the veteran lawyer as “sui generis.”
