New Delhi, July 29(HS): The five-member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court will hear the reference sent under Article 200 of the Constitution regarding the presentation of bills by President Droupadi Murmu to the President and Governors on August 19. This order was given by the constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai. The constitutional bench agreed that it would first hear preliminary objections from the Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments regarding the acceptability of this reference in the first hour. After that, time will be allotted on August 19, 20, 21, and 26 for hearing the arguments of the Attorney General.

The constitutional bench will hear the arguments from parties opposing the reference on August 28 and September 2, 3, and 9. To hear the rebuttal arguments from any party, the constitutional bench has ordered a date of September 10. The court has given all parties time until August 12 to submit their written arguments. The constitutional bench appointed lawyer Aman Mehta as the nodal lawyer for the center and Nisha Rohatgi for those opposing the reference to coordinate with lawyers in this matter.

On July 22, the constitutional bench issued notices to the central government and all state governments. Apart from the Chief Justice, the bench includes Justice Suryakant, Justice Vikram Nath, Justice A.S. Chandurkar, and Justice P.S. Narasimha.The President has sought the Supreme Court's opinion on 14 constitutional questions under Article 143(1) of the Constitution. The President has the right to seek advice from the Supreme Court on any legal or constitutional matter.

The issue of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal dispute was also referred to the Supreme Court by the then President.This reference by the President is significant because recently the Supreme Court ruled on the long delay in bills by the Tamil Nadu Governor.

The bench, headed by Justice J.B. Pardiwala, issued directions for the Governor to take a decision on bills passed by the Assembly under Article 200 of the Constitution, stating that the Governor must decide on any bill sent by the Assembly within a maximum of one month.

According to the directions, if the Governor keeps the bill for advice from the President contrary to the advice of the state government, a decision on that must also be made within a maximum of three months. The Supreme Court stated in its directions that if the state assembly resends a bill to the Governor after re-passing it, a decision must be made within a maximum of one month.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar