DMK To Take Steps To Scrap Governor’s Address

Chennai: The DMK would initiate steps for scrapping the practice of presenting the Governor’s Address in the State Assembly at the beginning of the session every year through a Constitutional amendment in Parliament by seeking the support of like-minded political parties all over the country, Chief Minister M K Stalin announced in the Assembly on Tuesday.

After the passing of a resolution, moved by him in the House, not accepting Governor R N Ravi walking out of the House on Tuesday without reading out the customary Governor’s Address prepared by the State Government and including the English and Tamil versions of the address in the Assembly records as having read, Stalin said it had been the norm for the Governor to read out the policy of the government in the beginning of the year.

But it was regrettable that Governor R N Ravi had been rejecting the Address prepared by the Government every year and since such incidents of Governors remaining an impediment for the State Governments had been happening in various States, it could not be ignored as a one off event, he said.

When a practice was being repeatedly breached, it was natural for questions to be raised over the relevance of such conventions remaining on paper and hence the DMK would make efforts to remove the custom of the Governor reading out the address prepared by the Government in the Assembly at the beginning of the year, he said.

Thanking the members of the House for passing the resolution unanimously, Stalin said that the Governor’s Address, as read out by the Speaker M Appavu, in English and its Tamil translation, along with the resolution moved by him alone, would be part of the Assembly records.

Moving the resolution, he said that Article 176 of the Constitution enjoined the Speaker to read out the address prepared by the State government in toto and did not provide any scope for making any additions or deletions to the speech.

But the Governor had violated the law and traditions by walking out of the House without reading the address and though there was no Constitutional provision for him to seek clarifications on the address, the State government did answer his queries, he said, adding that yet the Governor had deliberately acted against the Constitution.

It was an act insulting the majesty of the century old Assembly with a long tradition and culture and it was regrettable, he said, pointing out that the Governor had been doing it again and again despite the due respect given to the Governor.

Though the Governor had been denigrating the State government and spreading canards through his speeches in public platforms, his attempt to bring a bad name to the Assembly was unacceptable and since it was his duty to protect the dignity of the House and follow the footsteps of the predecessors who brought glory to the institution, he was moving the resolution, Stalin said.

He sought the permission of the Speaker to allow him to move the resolution by relaxing Assembly Rule 17 with a view to protecting the dignity of the Assembly, which was granted.