Last word on state bill rests with President or governor, Maharashtra tells apex court

New Delhi: Maharashtra, through senior lawyer Harish Salve, told Supreme Court on Tuesday that the Constitution empowers a governor or the President, not an assembly, to have the final say on a state bill. It made a five-judge bench led by CJI B R Gavai ask: "Is this the federal governance structure envisaged by Constitution framers?"

Making good his argument, Salve, who has moved to the UK and is now the King's Counsel, told the bench of CJI Gavai and Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar that the Constitution mandates that the President will always be bound by the aid and advice of the Union council of ministers led by the PM but there is no such provision of aid and advice by state council of ministers for a governor on a bill passed by an assembly.

He said when a governor reserves a bill for the consideration of the President, the latter will either grant or withhold assent based on the advice of the PM-led council of ministers. If a governor or the President withholds assent, the bill falls through, Salve said, adding that the framers of the Constitution intended a federal governance where Parliament/President will have the last word on framing of laws, not the assemblies.