10 Withheld Tamil Nadu Bills Become Law After Supreme Court Verdict, Bypassing Governors Nod

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has declared that 10 bills passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly have now become law—without needing the Governor or President’s approval. The verdict comes as a major win for the DMK-led government, which had been in a long-standing face-off with Governor R N Ravi over the stalled bills.

Since 2020, Governor Ravi had refused to give his assent to these bills, despite the Assembly clearing them twice. Instead, he had reserved them for the President’s consideration. But on Tuesday, the top court ruled that this action was ‘illegal’ and said the Governor had no power to reserve bills for the President after denying assent.

"The reservation of 10 bills by the Governor for the President’s assent was illegal and, therefore, liable to be set aside,” said a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan. The court made it clear that if a state Assembly passes a bill again without major changes, the Governor cannot block or delay it further.