Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi has ceased to be the chancellor of state-run universities, Dravida Munneta Kazhagam leader P Wilson said on Tuesday, shortly after the Supreme Court ruling on Governor's assent to pending state assembly bills.
The apex Court came down heavily on Ravi and said his reserving 10 bills for the consideration of President was against constitutional provisions.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said, "Action of Governor to reserve the 10 bills for President is illegal and arbitrary and thus the action is set aside."
Setting aside all his actions, it added, "The 10 bills shall be deemed to be clear from the date it was re-presented to the Governor."
DMK cadres welcomed the judgment by bursting firecrackers and distributing sweets and government sources indicated initiation of process soon to notify in the gazette, the bills that have been cleared.
Senior DMK leader R S Bharathi, hitting out at Governor Ravi, said that if he leaves the Raj Bhavan tonight then it could be assumed that he is a self-respecting person.
Such a judgment has not been delivered against any governor by the court in the past over seven decades since independence. Ravi did not give assent to bills and he functioned worse than an opposition party and acted like a foe, Bharati alleged.
In the wake of the judgment, when reporters asked if the chief minister will be the chancellor of state-run varsities or if the government will appoint chancellors, senior advocate and DMK Rajya Sabha MP, P Wilson said the 10 bills were for removal of the governor from varsities where he held the office of the chancellor.
Wilson said the 10 bills were necessitated as Governor Ravi scuttled work including those related to appointment of vice-chancellors. Matters such as those related to remission of sentences and public service commission appointments were put on hold by Ravi and this prompted filing of a case in the Supreme Court.
The bills included one passed by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam regime to name the Tamil Nadu Fisheries University as Dr J Jayalalithaa Fisheries University, TN Assembly Speaker M Appavu said.
"As per the apex court judgment, the governor is deemed to have granted assent (to the bills) and hence, governor is relieved from that (chancellor) post effective today," he said.
Further, Wilson said a person to be nominated by the Tamil Nadu government, in accordance with the provisions of the bills, would be the chancellor.
In November 2023, the Tamil Nadu Assembly adopted once again 10 bills for which Governor Ravi had declined assent. Out of the 10 bills, two bills were passed by the previous AIADMK regime (2016-21) and the remaining by the DMK government.
The bills cover, among other matters, amendment to laws of state varsities to make chief minister the chancellor in the place of governor.
To a question on the prospects of the office of governor/Centre appealing against the apex court judgment, Wilson said, "Whatever petition they may file we will oppose it."
Asked about the recent rejection of a bill by the President that sought to exempt Tamil Nadu from the ambit of NEET, he said the present judgment had nothing to do with the national medical entrance test.
Explaining the SC judgement, vis-a-vis President withholding assent to Tamil Nadu's anti-NEET Bill, he said in keeping with the scope of the verdict; though nothing has been said about NEET, the matter of withholding of assent could be challenged in court.
In a social media post, Wilson said: "I thank the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India for today's landmark judgement upholding the Constitution, democracy and reaffirming the States' rights and autonomy. I thank my leader the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu @mkstalin for entrusting me with the responsibility of conducting this case. I thank my learned brother senior advocates Mr Mukul Rohatgi, Mr Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Mr Rakesh Dwivedi for appearing in this case and devoting their valuable time and energy."
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