CHENNAI: The tussle between Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi and the DMK government has reached its crescendo with the latter moving the Supreme Court against the former over the inordinate delay in giving assent to many Bills adopted by the State Assembly as well as the files relating to many key decisions taken by it.
“The Governor has positioned himself as a political rival to the legitimately elected government,” charged the petition by the TN Government.
“The Governor’s inactions have caused a constitutional deadlock between the Constitutional Head of the State and the elected government of the State. By not acting upon their Constitutional functions, the governor is toying away with the citizen’s mandate,” the DMK government said in its petition.
The DMK government's writ petition has been filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, to declare that the inaction, omission, delay, and failure to comply with the constitutional mandate of the governor qua the consideration and assent of the Bills passed and forwarded by the Tamil Nadu State Legislature to him and the non-consideration of files, government orders and policies forwarded by the State government for his signature is unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary, and unreasonable besides a malafide exercise of power.
The state government’s petition also said the refusal to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers or deliberate inaction in acting on the Bills or on the files on the part of the Governor will defeat the parliamentary democracy and the will of the people and will also consequently violate the basic structure of the Constitution.
“Therefore, in such kind of situations, a different approach has to be taken by the courts in the interest of the public. It is a well-settled law that "etraordinary situations require extraordinary remedies”. When public interest requires, the court has to perform its Constitutional duties to address the impasse," the petition added.
Furthermore, the Governor has failed to accord sanctions for the prosecution and investigation of various crimes of corruption involving the moral turpitude of public servants and issues pertaining to the premature release of prisoners, the petition said.
Additionally, various applications for the appointment of the Chairman and members of the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) are still pending with the governor, the petition noted.
The TNPSC should be comprised of a Chairman and 14 members but it functions with a mere strength of four members. Despite frequent reminders, the Governor has returned the file twice, the petition said.
In the petition, the DMK government also charged that "not signing remission orders, day-to-day files,
appointment orders, not approving recruitment orders, not granting approval to prosecute ministers and MLAs involved in corruption including transfer of investigation to the CBI by Supreme Court, Bills passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly” is bringing the entire administration to a grinding halt and creating an adversarial attitude by not cooperating with the State administration.