A State Assembly passes a Bill. It goes to the Governor for assent, as every Bill must under the Constitution. Instead of signing it, returning it, or reserving it for the President, the Governor simply does nothing — for months, sometimes years. The Bill is neither law nor dead letter; it sits in a constitutional limbo. In 2025 this ordinary-sounding administrative delay became the subject of one of the year's most consequential Supreme Court interventions, and then of a rare Presidential Reference asking the Court to reconsider what it had just decided. That tussle — over who controls the clock on a Governor's or a President's silence — is the real story behind this year's flurry of "landmark judgment" round-ups.
When a Governor Sits on a Bill: The Assent Controversy and the Presidential Reference of 2025
A Supreme Court ruling on gubernatorial delay in assenting to State Bills, and the Presidential Reference it provoked, has reopened a foundational question — can courts fix timelines for constitutional functionaries who exercise discretion under Articles 200 and 201?
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Reporting sources: The Jurisprudence Of Command And The Constitutional Impasse - Live Law