Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M K Stalin on Friday asserted that "there will be no rest" until amending the Constitution to fix timelines for Governors to clear Bills.
In his first reaction to the Supreme Court's advisory opinion on the Presidential Reference, he said, "Our fight for State rights and true federalism will continue."
In a statement, Stalin said that the Supreme Court’s opinion in its answer to the Presidential Reference will have no impact on the April 8, 2025 judgment in the case of State of Tamil Nadu vs Governor of Tamil Nadu.
In fact, the chief minister said that the Bench tendering the advisory opinion has reaffirmed several key principles. It includes an assertion that the elected government should be in the driver’s seat, and there cannot be two executive power centres in the State. Constitutional functionaries must act within the constitutional framework — never above it, the Governor has no fourth option to kill the Bill or exercise a pocket veto (as was done by the TN Governor) and he has no option to withhold the Bill simpliciter, were among the reaffirmed principles, the CM asserted.
The top court also affirmed again that Governor cannot indefinitely delay acting on Bills. In cases of prolonged, unexplained, and indefinite delay by the Governor in considering a Bill, States can approach the Constitutional Courts and hold Governors accountable for their deliberate inactions.
The 9-Judge Bench in Ahmedabad St. Xavier’s College Society v. State of Gujarat (1974) 1 SCC 717 (Para 109) clearly held: "Advisory opinion of the Court would have no more effect than the opinion of the law officers."
The Supreme Court’s opinion delivered on November 20 has again rejected the Tamil Nadu Governor’s theory of pocket veto and assertion that Bills can be killed or buried by the Raj Bhavan. The CM said, "Through our legal battle, we have now compelled Governors, including the Tamil Nadu Governor, who are at odds with the elected government across the country, to work in line with the elected government and be accountable for their deliberate inaction in response to the people’s will through legislation."
It has also empowered Constitutional Courts to review their actions if they obstruct the passage of Bills indefinitely, and they cannot hide behind Article 361.
The CM, furthermore, said: "I believe that no constitutional authority can claim to be above the Constitution. When even a high Constitutional Authority breaches the Constitution, the Constitutional Courts are the only remedy, and the doors of the Court must not be closed. This would undermine the rule of law in our constitutional democracy and encourage breaches of the Constitution by Governors acting with political intent."
The DMK president dramatically added, "I have promises to keep, and until our people’s will in Tamil Nadu is fulfilled through legislation, we will ensure that every constitutional apparatus functions in this country in accordance with the Constitution."
DMK MP and senior advocate P Wilson said on Thursday that the Supreme Court's "no timelines for Governors" was only an opinion and not a judgment. Hence, Wilson said such an opinion was not binding. It will also not have any impact on adjudication in the courts, the MP had told reporters.
It may be recalled that the Tamil Nadu government notified on April 12, 2025 as many as 10 Acts after the apex court judgment that said the bills adopted again by the Assembly and sent to the President by the Governor were deemed to have received assent.
The 10 bills cover state-run varsities, and a key aspect is the transfer of the powers to appoint VCs from the Governor-chancellor to the state government. It includes those to amend the Tamil Nadu Fisheries University Act, and the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University Act. A bill to amend the Universities laws, the Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University Act, was among the other bills.
The Madras HC had granted interim stay on the operation of these amendment Acts and the government later preferred an appeal against it in the apex court. Days ago, the Raj Bhavan denied that Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi caused a delay in giving his assent to the bills passed by the State Assembly and it said, "81 per cent of the Bills" have been assented to by the Governor.
Taking exception to certain "unfounded and factually incorrect allegations" made in public domain that the Governor was delaying assent to the bills passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, and that his "actions were against the interests of the people," the Raj Bhavan said the official records of Raj Bhavan showed of the total bills received as on October 31, 2025 as much as 81 per cent were assented.
TN Governor RN Ravi and the DMK regime led by Stalin are at loggerheads over several policy issues, and the Dravidian model government has often accused the Governor of being "biased, acting politically at the behest of the BJP government at the Centre" and deliberately delaying Bills passed by the Assembly.
