SC tells Tamil Nadu to await judgement on Presidential Reference

new delhi: the supreme court on friday advised the tamil nadu government to await the outcome of the presidential reference before pursuing its plea challenging governor r n ravi's decision to refer the tamil nadu physical education and sports university (amendment) bill, 2025, to the president instead of granting assent.a bench of chief justice b r gavai and justice k vinod chandran said the matter will be considered after the constitution bench delivers its judgement. “you will have to wait for the outcome of the presidential reference. you will have to wait hardly for four weeks. the reference has to be decided before november 21 [gavai's retirement],” the bench noted.the apex court had reserved its judgement on september 11 on the presidential reference, which examines whether a constitutional court can impose timelines for governors and the president to assent to bills passed by state legislatures.during the hearing, senior advocate abhishek singhvi submitted that the governor cannot refer a bill to the president after receiving the “aid and advice” of the council of ministers. solicitor general tushar mehta noted that from 2015 to 2025, governors nationwide made 381 such references. senior advocate mukul rohatgi argued whether a governor can scrutinise every clause of a bill like a judge.the tamil nadu government contended that the governor's act of reserving the bill for the president's consideration is “patently unconstitutional, violative of articles 163(1) and 200 of the constitution, and void ab initio.” the bill, sent to the governor for assent on may 6, 2025, along with the chief minister's advice, was referred to the president on july 14, citing alleged conflicts with clause 7.3 of the ugc regulations, 2018 — a move the state says exceeds his constitutional authority.