Stalin Condemns Union Govt For Raking Issues Settled By SC
The Union Government’s attempt clearly exposed that the Governor R N Ravi had acted at the BJP’s behest to undermine the people’s mandate, which posed a clear exigent threat to State autonomy, he said.
Chennai: Strongly condemning the Union Government’s Presidential reference that attempted to subvert the Constitutional position already settled by the Supreme Court in the Tamil Nadu Governor’s case and other precedents, Chief Minister M K Stalin urged all non-BJP ruled States and political leaders to join the legal struggle to defend the Constitution.
In his social media message on Thursday Stalin pointed to President Droupadi Murmu’s reference under Article 143 seeking the Supreme Court’s opinion on the court employing its powers under Article 142 to impose timelines and prescribe the manner of conduct of Governors and the President.
The Union Government’s attempt clearly exposed that the Governor R N Ravi had acted at the BJP’s behest to undermine the people’s mandate, which posed a clear exigent threat to State autonomy, he said and vowed to fight the legal battle with all their might, in the hard-hitting social media message
Terming the Presidential reference as nothing but a desperate attempt to weaken democratically elected State Governments by placing them under the control of Governors serving as agents of the Union Government, he said it also directly challenged the majesty of law and the authority of the Supreme Court as the final interpreter of the Constitution.
Wondering why there should be any objection to prescribing time limits for Governors to act, he asked if the BJP was seeking to legitimize its Governors’ obstruction by allowing indefinite delays in Bill assent and ‘does the Union Government intend to paralyse non-BJP State Legislatures?’
Alleging that the questions raised in the reference revealed the BJP-led Union Government’s sinister intent to distort the Constitution’s basic distribution of powers and incapacitate the State Legislatures dominated by opposition parties, he said that it had placed the nation at a critical juncture.
Urging non-BJP parties to support the DMK’s fight against the Union Government in the grave circumstances, he said ‘Tamil Nadu will win.’
The Supreme Court had, on April 8, held as ‘illegal’ the Governor holding back 10 Bills sent to him for Presidential assent after they were passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly and invoked powers to declare the Bills as effectively approved.
Subsequent to that court ruling, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar came down heavily on the verdict saying that courts could not dictate terms to the President referring to the landmark verdict setting the deadline to clear Bill for the President and Governors.
Later, Dhankar also attended a meeting organized by the Governor at the Ooty Raj Bhavan for vice-chancellors of universities in Tamil Nadu and addressed the participants.