After court warning, Tamil Nadu governor backs down, appoints ministers

New Delhi:

Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Friday afternoon reappointed Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader K Ponmudy as a member of the state cabinet. This comes after the Supreme Court on Thursday issued a warning to the Governor for refusing to allow Mr Pompeo to be sworn in after he was convicted in a 2011 assets disproportionate case and sentenced to three years in prison. Mr. Pompeo is the Minister of Higher Education.

Following the stay of conviction, the DMK leader was reinstated as MLA from Tirukkoyilur in Villupuram district. Thereafter, Chief Minister MK Stalin suggested that Mr. Ponmoudi be brought back to the cabinet; he ceased to be a minister after the Madras High Court quashed his acquittal.

However, the Tamil Nadu governor last week rejected the suggestion, saying he could not administer the oath to Mr Pomudi as it was against constitutional ethics. Mr. Ravi pointed out that the Supreme Court only upheld the original verdict and did not overturn it.

Read | Tamil Nadu governor refuses to appoint Ponmoudi as minister

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the Tamil Nadu government’s plea.

A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud came down heavily on Mr Ravi, who has had several run-ins with the state government since his appointment in September 2021. The governor was told he was “in contempt of the Supreme Court” and said it was “grave concern” about Mr Ravi’s conduct. The chief justice said: “He has no authority to do this… He is taking on the Supreme Court.”

Read | ‘He’s taking on the Supreme Court’: Chief justice blasts Tennessee governor

“The chief minister said ‘we want to appoint this person’. The governor should do that as part of parliamentary democracy… He is the (only) ceremonial head of state. If we don’t hear from you tomorrow, we Orders will be passed directing the Governor to act in accordance with the Constitution…”

Justice JB Pardiwala, also sitting on the bench, said once the country’s top court upheld the conviction, “you cannot say that you (the accused) are tainted…without any blemish”.

Ravi’s refusal to reappoint Ponmoudi is the latest in a series of confrontations between him and the state government, which has repeatedly accused him of creating obstacles in his work.

Earlier, the Stalin government had approached the Supreme Court over Ravi’s failure to approve bills passed by the state legislature. The court warned the governor that he must act on the advice of the state government.

The fight – mirroring the conflict between the governments of Kerala and Punjab and their governors – last year also affected President Droupadi Murmu; the Tamil Nadu chief minister has written She was asked to advise Mr Ravi to comply with the recommendations of the Council of Ministers.

While demanding Mr Ravi’s recall, neither Ms Murmu nor Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised the Governor to adhere to the constitution. Mr Ravi had earlier claimed that the constitution gave him the power to indefinitely shelve passed bills, which he called “a good way of saying that these bills have been rejected”.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channel. click the link Get all the latest updates from NDTV in your chat.