Supreme Court says Tamil Nadu Guv RN Ravi defying its order, gives one-day deadline to reinstate DMK leader as minister
New Delhi: The Supreme Court rebuked Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Thursday for his refusal to reinstate a DMK leader as a minister despite a temporary halt on his conviction, media reports said.
According to an NDTV report, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud criticised the Governor's actions as "defying the Supreme Court" and questioned the government, stating, "If the Governor disregards the Constitution, what action does the government take?"
The bench, comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, has now granted the Governor a one-day deadline until the following day to appoint DMK's K Ponmudi as a minister, said the report.
The MK Stalin-led government has approached the Supreme Court after Governor Ravi declined to re-induct Ponmudi into the state cabinet, citing concerns about Constitutional morality.
Ponmudi was disqualified as an MLA after the Madras High Court overturned his acquittal in an assets case.
Later, the Supreme Court suspended his conviction and the two-year jail sentence.
In an attempt to reinstate him as a minister, the state government made a move, but the Governor said that Ponmudi’s conviction had merely been halted, not overturned.
"If we do not hear from your person tomorrow, we will pass an order directing the Governor to act according to the Constitution. We are seriously concerned about the Tamil Nadu Governor and his behaviour. He has no business to do this. He is taking on the Supreme Court," the Chief Justice said.
"We are keeping eyes open and tomorrow we will decide. We are seriously concerned," he doubled down.
The Chief Justice said the Governor is "defying the Supreme Court". "Those who have advised him have not advised him properly," he said. "I may have a different perspective of the man/ minister, but we have to go by the constitutional law. The Chief Minister says we want to appoint this person, the Governor should do so as part of the parliamentary democracy. He's a ceremonial head of the state."
The Tamil Nadu Governor and the MK Stalin government have repeatedly clashed on various issues after Ravi took over Tamil Nadu Governor in 2021.
The Tamil Nadu government sought the Supreme Court’s intervention over the delay in clearing Bills by the Raj Bhawan. The court had then directed Ravi to act according to the advice of the Council of Ministers. The matter had escalated to Rashtrapati Bhawan as the MK Stalin government urged President Droupadi Murmu to remove RN Ravi from the post of Tamil Nadu Governor.
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