SC hits out at TN Governor for refusal to reinduct ex-minister

New Delhi, March 21

Expressing “serious concern” over Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi’s refusal to re-induct senior DMK leader K Ponmudy as a minister in the state Cabinet even after it suspended his conviction, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked him to decide the issue in 24 hours.

Defying top court

Mr Attorney General, what’s your Governor doing? We did not want to say it out loud in the court but he is defying the SC. The conviction has been stayed and the Governor says he won’t swear him in… We are going to take a serious view of it. SC Bench

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“We are seriously concerned about the conduct of the Governor. We did not want to say it out loud in the court but he is defying the Supreme Court of India. Those who have advised him have not advised him properly. Now, the Governor has to be informed that when the Supreme Court stays a conviction, it stays a conviction,” a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud told Attorney General R Venkataramani.

“If we do not hear from your person tomorrow, we will pass an order directing the Governor to act according to the Constitution. We will pass an order,” the Bench told the AG.

Ignoring Chief Minister MK Stalin’s advice, the Governor has refused to re-induct Ponmudy, whose conviction and three-year sentence in a disproportionate assets case the apex court stayed recently.

The Bench wondered how the Governor can say that Ponmudi’s re-induction will be against constitutional morality and noted that Ravi was defying its order.

At the very outset of the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi submitted on behalf of the Tamil Nadu Government that it was unprecedented in the history of independent India that a Governor had refused to act as per the CM’s recommendation.

When a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court has stayed the conviction, the Governor has no business to say that it did not wipe off the conviction. “This is not about somebody’s subjective perceptions. We may have a different view about this particular man, the minister. But that’s not the point. The point is about constitutional law. The CM says I want to appoint this person in the Council of Ministers… that’s parliamentary democracy. The Governor is a titular head, a figurehead. He has the power to counsel, that’s all,” the Bench said.

The senior DMK leader was disqualified as an MLA under the Representation of the People Act after the Madras High Court recently reversed his acquittal in the disproportionate assets case.