Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker flays Governor R N Ravi, walks out of meeting of his counterparts

Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu walked out after accusing Governor R N Ravi of continuing to ‘disrespect' the people of the state, elected government and century-old TN Legislative Assembly.

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu walked out of a meeting of his counterparts in Patna on Monday after accusing Governor R N Ravi of continuing to ‘disrespect' the people of the state, elected government and century-old TN Legislative Assembly.

Ravi’s activities were ‘deeply worrying.’ he said. Citing the recommendations of the Punchhi, Sarkaria, Rajamannar and Venkatachaliah Commissions, on appointment of Governors, Appavu argued that the state legislature should be empowered to ‘remove’ the Governor through a resolution and the wording that the ‘Governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the President’ from Article 156 of the Constitution should be deleted.

However, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Harivansh Narayan objected to his comments and said his remarks would not be recorded in the minutes of the meeting of the 85th All India Presiding Officers’ Conference in Patna. He cautioned Appavu to desist from making remarks on the Governor.

Protesting, Appavu stated “if I cannot speak about this in this conference, then where else can I speak,” and staged a walkout.

A release from the state government said that the Speaker was addressing at the meeting on the topic “75th anniversary of Constitution: Contribution of Parliament and State Legislative Bodies in Strengthening Constitutional Values.” He highlighted the concerns over Governors’ interference in state governance matters beyond their defined roles and thereby violated constitutional principles. He criticised Ravi’s actions in avoiding his customary annual address to the Assembly that was prepared by the state government.

Stating that state autonomy has become questionable and that the philosophy of federalism has also been diluted, Appavu said there was a growing trend of the Union government viewing state governments with a step motherly attitude.

“Recently, there has been an increasing trend of Governors unnecessarily meddling in many matters not defined in the Constitution. The activities of the Governor of Tamil Nadu are deeply worrying,” he said.

He said the arbitrary power of UGC over the state universities created by state legislations and funded by the state government was a gross violation of the constitutional federal arrangement.

He hoped that the gathering would understand the ‘anguish’ faced by the democratically elected government in not being able to fulfil its social welfare programmes and schemes due to the ‘constitutional violations’ by the Governor. “Such actions of the Governor who is also part of the Legislature actually impedes the contribution of Legislature in strengthening the constitutional values,” Appavu said.