The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that the people and government of Tamil Nadu were suffering due to several bills pending with Governor RN Ravi, reported Live Law.

“People are suffering, the state is suffering,” the court said. “So many bills are pending.”

The court was hearing two writ petitions filed by the Tamil Nadu government against the governor for obstructing the Legislative Assembly by withholding assent for 10 bills passed between 2020 and 2023.

The 10 re-enacted bills, mostly related to higher education and including provisions to remove the governor as chancellor of state universities, were sent to the president on November 18, 2023. The president approved one, rejected seven, and left two unaddressed.

The Supreme Court also promised to address the dispute between the state government and governor “in the spirit of the Constitution” and the “interest of one and all”. The court hoped that the deadlock could be cleared over coffee before the February 6 hearing, reported The Hindu.

Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for Ravi, told the court that “the governor’s table is empty”.

“There is nothing on it at all,” he claimed.

The state government’s counsel told the court that the governor had no choice but to grant assent to bills presented to him for a second time, The Indian Express reported.

“Under the law, if the state legislature passes a bill, the governor can ask for it to be reconsidered withholding assent, [he can] ask for reconsideration,” said advocate Mukul Rohatgi. “If post reconsideration, the same bill is re-enacted, or reaffirmed, then under Article 200 of the Constitution the governor has no option but to grant assent because this is our constitutional framework. If he does not do that, the entire system of democracy fails.”

Article 200 of the Constitution empowers governors to grant assent to a bill, reject it or reserve it for the president’s consideration in certain cases.

“The governor cannot act like a super chief minister,” added advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, also representing Tamil Nadu. “There is a reason why governors are not elected.”

Telangana, Punjab and Kerala have also approached the Supreme Court claiming that their governors are hindering legislative and executive work.

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