New Delhi, July 30 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday entertained a plea by the Punjab government questioning the long delay of over a year by the President to clear two state bills that were referred to it last year by the governor without giving any reasons, and issued a notice to the Centre.

Stating that its case is covered by the recent judgment of the top court in the Tamil Nadu case laying down timelines of three months for both the governor and President to act on bills presented for its consent, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government urged the court to either direct the governor to follow the law in the Tamil Nadu case or hold the governor's action to be illegal and treat the bills to be passed with "deemed" consent.

A bench of Chief...