Government – Governor Tussle: Tamil Nadu Assembly Re-Adopts Bills Returned by Governor

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Nov 18: Putting the Governor RN Ravi in a tight corner, the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Saturday at a special session re-adopted all the 10 bills the governor had returned without assigning any reason and send them back to the Raj-Bhavan for his assent the second time.

The bills were returned by the governor earlier this week after the Supreme Court cautioned the governors in several non-BJP ruled states of “playing with fire” in holding back the bills without assigning any reason to negate the democratic functioning of the state administration.

The apex court had taken the tough stand on petitions filed by the governments of Tamil Nadu and Punjab pointing out that their respective governors were acting against the spirit of the constitution by holding back bills for years without giving his assent or forwarding to the president for approval.

Tamil Nadu assembly today unanimously passed the 10 bills after Chief Minister MK Stalin put forth a resolution to revive the bills that RN Ravi had sent back without giving any reasons. While 2 bills were adopted by the House in 2020 when the AIADMK government was in power, six others were passed last year and two more in the current year. One of the bills aim to clip the powers of the Governor by elevating vice-chancellors of state universities to the position of chancellor.

Though AIADMK supported the move the party walked out over another issue. The BJP, which has four MLAs too, walked out before the resolution adopting the 10 bills was passed by voice vote.

Stalin, in a stinging attack on Mr Ravi, told the assembly that withholding assent without any reason was unacceptable. “He returned the bills due to his personal whims and fancies… it is undemocratic and anti-people to not give assent. The Governor can’t withhold assent if the bills are passed in the assembly again and sent to him,” he said.

“The Governor has kept the Bills for a long time and on November 13, 2023, without giving any reasons returned the Bills, mentioning ‘I withhold Assent’. The Assembly feels that withholding the assent and returning them without giving any reason is not acceptable,” said the Chief Minister in the special session of the Assembly.

The move to return the bills followed the Supreme Court expressing “serious concern” on November 10 over the delay by governors in giving assent to the bills passed by the state assemblies. Stalin also alleged that non-BJP-ruled states were being targeted through Governors, apparently by the Centre.

Within hours of the governor returned the bills without assigning any reason, the speaker of the state Assembly convened the special session on Saturday for reconsideration of the bills and send the same back to Raj-Bhavan for consent before the next hearing of the petition in the Supreme Court seeking for direction to the governors for acting as per the constitution which has limited the governor’s role in the democratic set up.

The tussle between the Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan and the ruling DMK has been going on over the last two years. RN Ravi a BJP Government appointee had returned the NEET exemption bill after much delay and sent it to the President for assent only after the assembly passed it or the second time.

By hastily returning the bills before the next hearing by the top court, the Raj Bhavan attempted to give an impression that no bill was pending. However the ruling DMK wants to pre-empt it by swiftly passing them again and presenting them to the Governor so he would have no choice but grant assent. Citing inordinate delay, the state also seeks a direction from the Supreme Court for a timeframe to be given to governors on giving assent to bills.

Several opposition ruled states too have moved the top court on similar charges against their Governor’s after which the bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had taken a serious view of the issue. Opposition ruled states hope the court would also take note of the centre’s failure to address this issue and the President too not intervening despite SOS by states.

Mr Stalin said the decision to withhold assent to the Bills adopted by the State Assembly was “illegal, anti-people, against his conscience and above all, against the sovereignty of the Assembly.”

Mr Stalin accused the Governor of adopting a confrontational approach with the government which, he said, was against the Constitution. “The government has written to the President of the country to advise the Governor in an appropriate manner. MPs from the State had met the President and made a request. We have also approached the Supreme Court,” he said.

Most of the Bills for which the Governor had withheld assent are related to a proposal to amend the statutes of certain State universities to enable the Chief Minister to take over the role of the Chancellor, replacing the Governor.