In the eighth day hearing on the Presidential Reference, the Karnataka government said in the Supreme Court that the President and the Governor are nominal, they are obliged to work only on the help and advice of the Council of Ministers of the Center and the states. The Supreme Court had set a three -month deadline for the Governor and the President to take a decision on them after the Bill was passed by the Assembly and Parliament in a case on 8 April, while objecting to which President Draupadi Murmu sent a reference to the Supreme Court.

According to the PTI report, Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanian, who appeared for the Government of Karnataka, said on Tuesday (September 9, 2025) that the President and the Governor are only nominal heads under the constitutional system and are bound to work on the help and advice of the Council of Ministers at both the Center and the state.

The case was heard by Chief Justice Bhushan Ramakrishna Gawai, Justice Suryakant, Justice Vikram Nath, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice AS Chandurkar. Advocate Gopal Subramanian told the bench that Article 361 of the Constitution gives exemption to the President and the Governor from any criminal action as he does not have the responsibility of the executive.

Citing various decisions of the Supreme Court, Advocate Subramanian told the bench that the satisfaction of the Governor is the satisfaction of the Council of Ministers to take action on the Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly. On the eighth day of the hearing on the Presidential Reference, Subramanian said that the Constitution does not arrange for parallel administration with the elected government in the state.

CJI Gawai asked Subramanian whether the government has to work on the assistance and advice of the Council of Ministers under Section 197 of CRPC, which is related to prior approval to prosecute public servants. On this, he said that there are many such decisions of this court, in which it is believed that the Governor works freely with the help and advice of the Council of Ministers and uses his discretion in relation to Section 197 of the CRPC.

Earlier on three Sibantar, the West Bengal government had told the Supreme Court that the aspirations of the public as a bill cannot be subjected to the wishes and wishes of the governors and the President, as the executive has been prevented from interfering in the legislative process.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) -ruled state government had said that Governors cannot question the will of the sovereign and cannot proceed to check the legislative capacity of the bill passed by the Assembly, which comes under the jurisdiction of the judiciary.