Can a Governor defer summoning the Budget Session in order to take legal advice on the Chief Minister's communications?

No. There is no occasion to seek legal advice on whether or not the Budget Session of the Legislative Assembly should be convened. Whatever the tenor of the Chief Minister's communications, the Governor remains plainly bound by the advice tendered to him by the Council of Ministers.

Constitution of India — Art.174 — Art.167 — Art.32 — Governor — Summoning of the Legislative Assembly — Aid and advice of the Council of Ministers — Duty of the Chief Minister to furnish information — Constitutional functionaries — Constitution of India — Art.174 — Summoning the House — no discretion in the Governor — Held: The authority entrusted to the Governor to summon the House of the Legislature of the State is to be exercised on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, and is not a constitutional arena in which the Governor is entitled to exercise his own discretion. (¶22) Constitution of India — Art.174(1) — legal advice no answer to the Cabinet's advice — Held further: There is no occasion to seek legal advice on whether or not the Budget Session of the Legislative Assembly should be convened; once the Council of Ministers has tendered its advice, the Governor is plainly bound by it. (¶23) Constitution of India — Art.167(b) — Chief Minister's duty to furnish information — Held further: Once the Governor calls for information relating to the administration of the affairs of the State and proposals for legislation, the Chief Minister is duty bound to furnish it, and withholding it is plainly in dereliction of that constitutional duty. (¶24) Constitution of India — Art.167 — Art.174 — obligations of constitutional functionaries are not reciprocal conditions — Held further: The failure of a constitutional authority to fulfil its obligation under a distinct provision furnishes no justification to another to decline to fulfil its own, and constitutional discourse must be conducted with a sense of decorum and mature statesmanship. Petition disposed of. (¶25, 27)

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