CHENNAI: A day after the DMK and VCK staged a black-flag demonstration against Governor Banwarilal Purohit during his visit to Cuddalore district, the Raj Bhavan here on Saturday reiterated its stand that the Governor indeed had every power to obtain information from State administration as per the Constitution.
The Raj Bhavan categorically said that the Governor would continue to visit other districts in the coming months and interact with the district officials and with the common people.
“The Governor is acting entirely in public interest and for promoting the welfare of the common people for motivating the administration at the district-level through the meetings and the presentations being made to him by the District Collectors and senior government officials,” R Rajagopal, Additional Chief Secretary to the Governor, said in a detailed statement here.
“It is the duty of the Governor to be acquainted with the true state of affairs of the territory he governs. His visiting different districts, and learning first-hand the condition of administration of the district through the presentations being made to him serves a most necessary purpose to acquaint him with the administration’s effort to implement plans, policies and schemes of the government,” he observed.
Rajagopal said there had been reports, discussions and comments from various biased quarters about the Constitutional illegality of such actions. Some of these comments have been in poor taste reflecting the output of a jaundiced mind and a prejudiced outlook, he added.
It has been a matter of satisfaction for the State and for the officials of Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari and Cuddalore districts that the Governor, as the first citizen of the State, had chosen to interact at the district-level for a first-hand understanding of the district, its features, its strengths and its problems, the statement said.
Profusely quoting from Constitution, Rajagopal said, “Article 154(1) confers powers of the Governor that are analogous to the powers of the President under Article 53. There exists a two-way responsibility that the Governor and the executive wing of government bear to each other. As head of the State legislature, under Article 168(1), he is an integral part of the legislature. Articles 175 and 176 give him a right to address the legislature.”
“To say that the Governor is interfering at the behest of the Central government and misusing the office of the Governor to interfere with the administration of the State is made out of ignorance of his powers under the Constitution,” Rajagopal added.