India, Nov. 20 -- The Supreme Court's decision that governors and the President cannot be bound by judicially imposed timelines in granting assent to legislation clearly demarcates the powers of the judiciary and executive, but also effectively rolls back a previous judgment that had clamped fetters on gubernatorial powers. This is likely to perpetuate the trend of escalating conflict in several states between the elected government and Raj Bhavans.

In response to a presidential reference, a five-judge Constitution bench of the apex court - the current Chief Justice of India, the incoming Chief Justice of India and a future Chief Justice of India among them - said the Constitution envisages a carefully balanced structure for the processi...