Due to the Governor’s protracted hold up clearing the Acts and his illegal referral to the President, the Supreme Court ruled that the 10 Acts that the Tamil Nadu government has notified are “deemed” to have been approved by Governor RN Ravi. After the Supreme Court uploaded its ruling last night, the government released the notification today. For the first time ever in Indian history, a state government is putting legislation into effect based on a court order rather than the governor’s approval.

Thanks to the ruling of Supreme Court, Senior Advocate and DMK Rajya Sabha MP P. Wilson, who posted on X, these are the first Acts of any Indian legislature to go into effect without the Governor or President’s signature. The governor’s role as university chancellor is replaced by several statutes.

After the 10 bills were re-enacted by the State Legislative Assembly after the Governor’s initial act of withholding assent, a bench made up of Justices J. B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan ruled that the Governor could not have held them for the President’s approval. As a result, when the Government re-presented the Bills on November 18, 2023, it was assumed that they had been ratified.

“In its Order dated 08.04.2025 in W.P.(C) No.1239/2023, the Honorable Supreme Court ruled that all actions taken by the Honorable President after the date of reserving the aforementioned Bill are not legally binding and will be considered as having been approved by the Honorable Governor on the day the Bill was brought before him for approval, or the notification.”

The Acts Notified Are:

1. The Tamil Nadu Fisheries University (Amendment) Act, 2020

2. The Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Amendment) Act, 2020

3. The Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2022

4. The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University (Amendment) Act, 2022

5. The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, Chennai (Amendment) Act, 2022

6. The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (Amendment) Act, 2022

7. The Tamil University (Second Amendment) Act, 2022

8. The Tamil Nadu Fisheries University (Amendment) Act, 2023

9. The Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Amendment) Act, 2023