New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre if the hands of constitutional courts could be tied if constitutional functionaries refused to discharge functions or there was inaction on the part of the Governor on Bills passed by state Assemblies.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice BR Gavai made the remarks after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said if some Governors sat over Bills passed by the Assembly, political solutions had to be explored by states instead of judicial solutions.

The bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar, is hearing a Presidential reference on the question whether the court can impose timelines for Governors and the President to deal with bills passed by state Assemblies. If there was any wrong, the bench said, there ought to be a remedy. CJI Gavai then asked Mehta, "If constitutional functionaries do not discharge their functions without any reason, can the hands of a constitutional court be tied?"

Mehta said for all problems, courts couldn't be the solution, and, in a democracy, primacy had to be given to dialogue.

Justice Kant weighed in, "If there is any inaction on the part of the Governor, which can vary from state to state, and if an aggrieved state approaches the court, can the judicial review of such inaction be completely barred. Tell us what can be the solution?"

Calling for some “flexibility”, Mehta submitted, “Suppose the Governor is sitting over bills, there are political solutions which can be adopted. It is not always that the chief minister rushes to the court. There are instances where parleys take place, the chief minister meets the Governor, he meets the Prime Minister and President and solutions are found.” The law officer said there were several occasions telephonic conversations were made to resolve the impasse. “For decades, this practice has been adopted to resolve disputes, if any. Delegations go and meet the governor, President and sometimes a middle path is found.”