The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi and said his reserving 10 bills for the consideration of the President was against constitutional provisions. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said, “Action of the governor to reserve the 10 bills for President is illegal and arbitrary and thus the action is set aside.” Setting aside all his actions, it added, “The 10 bills shall be deemed to be clear from the date it was re-presented to the governor.”

The governor, the top court said, must be conscious to not create ‘roadblocks or chokehold’ the state legislature to “thwart and break the will of the people”. Under Article 200 of the Constitution, which deals with assent to bills, the governor does not possess any discretion and has to mandatorily act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers, the court added.