New Delhi, Feb. 7 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday set about defining the constitutional contours of a governor's authority regarding assent to bills, framing eight key questions while expressing strong disapproval of Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi's prolonged delay in acting upon bills passed by the state legislature.

A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan observed that the Tamil Nadu governor seems to have devised his "own procedure" in withholding assent to bills referred by the state government, and sought the reasons behind Ravi keeping the bills pending for three years and then referring it to the President.

"It also does not make sense to keep withholding assent and not send to the legislature, thereby frustrating the last p...