New Delhi: The Supreme Court has criticised the Tamil Nadu governor R.N. Ravi for refusing to re-induct lawmaker K. Ponmudi as minister even after the suspension of his conviction by the top court.
LiveLaw has reported that the Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud took a dim view of the delay, and asked Attorney General for India, R. Venkataramani, “What is your governor doing?”.
“The conviction has been stayed by the Supreme Court and the Governor says he won’t swear him in! We will have to make some serious observations. Please tell your governor, we are going to take a serious view of it,” the CJI said.
The CJI also asked as to how a governor can say – after the Supreme Court has stayed the MLA’s conviction – that “his reinduction as a Minister will be against Constitutional Morality.”
The bench, also consisting of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was hearing an application filed by the Tamil Nadu government seeking a direction to the governor to accept the recommendation made by chief minister M.K. Stalin to reappoint Ponmudi as minister.
The Supreme Court also noted that the situation had constrained the court to express serious concern about the governor in the case.
“We did not want to say it out loud in court but you are now constraining us to say that aloud. This is not the way. He is defying the Supreme Court of India,” the CJI said.
He also stressed that when a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court stays a conviction, “the Governor has no business to tell us that this does not wipe off the conviction and it is non-existent.”
The CJI also added that this means that those who have advised Governor Ravi have not done so “correctly in accordance with law.”
The AG has sought time till tomorrow, March 22, to respond. The court was stern in stressing that this deadline needs to be maintained.
Past conflicts
Ravi has had several run-ins with DMK-led Tamil Nadu in the past. Ravi refused to read the customary address prepared for him by the state government last month, and left the first session of the legislative assembly after abruptly ending his speech.
In last year’s inaugural budget session, Ravi also omitted portions Ambedkar, Dravidian leaders, the Dravidian model of governance and on the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu from his speech. This gesture was condemned by the Stalin-led government.
In January 2023, the DMK government in Tamil Nadu protested against Ravi as the PTI quoted him saying, “Here in Tamil Nadu, a different kind of narrative has been created. Everything applicable for the whole of the country, Tamil Nadu will say no. It has become a habit. So many theses have been written – all false and poor fiction. This must be broken. Truth must prevail.”
The governor also objected to the state administration’s use of the term “ondriya arasu” to refer to the Union government, according to a report published in The Indian Express.
