RAS question
According to the Supreme Court Constitution Bench ruling of November 20, 2025, how many options does a Governor have when a State Bill is presented for assent?
Correct answer: (A) Three — grant assent, return to legislature, or reserve for President.
Under the Supreme Court Constitution Bench ruling of 20 November 2025, a Governor presented with a State Bill has three options: grant assent, return the Bill to the legislature for reconsideration, or reserve it for the President.
Explanation
The Supreme Court Constitution Bench ruling of 20 November 2025 treated Article 200 as a structured constitutional choice, not an open-ended power to stall a State Bill. The Governor may assent to the Bill, reserve it for the President, or withhold assent and return it with comments. Option A is therefore right because it captures the three permissible routes and excludes a fourth route of simply sitting on the Bill. This also explains the federalism point in the ruling: the assent function must allow constitutional dialogue, not indefinite obstruction of a Bill passed by the State legislature.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) It omits the Governor's power to withhold assent and return a non-Money Bill to the legislature with comments, which the ruling treats as one of the three Article 200 options.
- (C) It wrongly adds an indefinite pocket veto, even though the ruling rejected prolonged or unexplained inaction on State Bills.
- (D) It invents a single mandatory assent route and a 30-day deadline, while the ruling states three options and rejects a court-imposed fixed timeline for assent.
Concept
This tests the Governor's legislative role under Article 200 and its link with cooperative federalism. It recurs in RAS because assent, reservation and reconsideration are direct applications of constitutional text to State legislation.