CHENNAI: A year after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sought its approval, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi granted sanction to prosecute former AIADMK ministers BV Ramanaa and C Vijaya Baskar in connection with the Gutka scam.
The governor also gave his nod to prosecute former Tamil University Vice-Chancellor G Baskaran.The DMK government's requests for sanction to prosecute former ministers KC Veeramani and MR Vijaya Bhaskar are still under consideration.
The governor's action comes after the state government moved the Supreme Court over his delay in clearing Bills and files.
The state government forwarded the CBI's request for sanction to prosecute Ramanaa and Vijaya Baskar to the governor on September 12, 2022. The governor gave his nod on November 13, 2023, without mentioning any reason for the delay. The file seeking prosecution of Baskaran was sent on April 10, 2023, and the sanction was accorded on November 18.
The file regarding the prosecution of Veeramani was sent on September 12, 2022. The governor had three communications with the government, seeking an "authenticated investigation report" before receiving the file from the state again on November 18, 2023. The above information was part of a submission made by the Attorney General, appearing for the office of the governor, before the Supreme Court on Monday.
The submission was titled 'Factual position regarding Bills, files and other cases pending with the office of the Tamil Nadu Governor'. According to the submission, the governor has received 580 proposals on premature release of life convict prisoners since September 2021, when Ravi assumed office. Of them, 362 proposals were approved, 165 rejected and 53 proposals are under consideration.
"Of the 53 pending proposals, two were received on June 20, one on August 4, one on August 9, and the remaining 49 were received on August 24. All the pending proposals have been received recently," the SC was told.
On the proposals relating to the appointment of members of the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, the SC was informed that there was no transparency in the entire selection process.
"As the government did not address the concerns of the governor in the manner of selection, the concerned proposal was returned on October 26. Currently, this matter is not pending in the office of the governor. However, the governor has approved all the other proposals for appointment received from the government," the SC was informed.
In the submission, the governor's office also defended its issuance of a notification regarding the search committee for the selection of Vice-Chancellors in three state universities.
The SC was also informed that all the 12 Bills mentioned in the state's writ petition have been disposed of on November 13 and as of November 16, only five Bills are under consideration. On November 18, in a special session of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, the 10 Bills for which assent was withheld were reconsidered and passed. These Bills were sent to the Governor's Secretariat on the same day. Since January 2020, as many as 181 Bills were received and 152 have received the governor's assent.