Imagine a State Assembly passes a law — say, on university appointments or police reform — and sends it to the Governor for assent. The Governor simply sits on it. Not rejecting it, not returning it, not forwarding it to the President. Just silence, for months, sometimes years. The law that the elected legislature wanted never takes effect, and no one can force the Governor's hand — or so it was long assumed. In 2025 the Supreme Court disagreed, and used its extraordinary powers to fix timelines and even deem a Bill assented to. The Union government pushed back through an unusual route: a Presidential Reference asking the Court to reconsider, in the abstract, whether it was ever entitled to do this. The Court's opinion on that reference is now out, and it goes to the heart of how the three wings of government are meant to relate to each other.