Chennai: DMK working president M.K.Stalin on Tuesday demanded that Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami should complain to the President of India about the decision of Governor Banwarilal Purohit to appoint the Santhanam Committee to probe the sex scam in the Madurai Kamaraj University, thereby taking for himself the powers of the elected government in the State.
“Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami should immediately complain to the President about the Governor's abuse of power. CM should also boldly condemn the Governor for assuming all the powers of administration of the universities in the state. Let not the CM take the state administration to further depths by keeping mum out of abject fear”, Stalin said in a statement here.
“Despite taking oath pledging to protect the Constitution, the Governor had held a press conference at the Raj Bhavan to declare that the state government has absolutely no powers. I take this to mean that the Governor considers this AIADMK Government as being in suspended animation”, said Stalin, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.
It may be pointed out here that the Governor in the press conference had not stated that the state government had no “absolutely no powers” in any aspect, but had only pointed out-reading from the bound book ‘Governors Guide’-- that as the Chancellor (of the Madurai Kamaraj University), he did not have to act on the advice of the Council of Ministers. “State Government cannot interfere in the matters of the Universities”, said the Governor quoting from the manual.
“Chancellor's office is a statutory office. It is quite distinct from that of the Governor. The state government is quite distinct from the authority of the Chancellor. Therefore, the Governor or Chancellor is not required to consult the Council of Ministers in appointing vice-chancellors or pro-VCs. The Governor while acting as Chancellor does not act on the advice of Council of Ministers. People do not seem to know this”, the Governor saidl.
