The Madras High Court convicted Ponmudi and his wife Visalakshi in a disproportionate assets case, sentenced them to 3 years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each. Ponmudi appealed to the Supreme Court, which stayed the verdict. Subsequently The Tamil Nadu government wanted to reinstate Ponmudi but as the Governor refused to administer the oath, the state government filed a case against the Governor in the Supreme Court.
Hearing the case on Thursday, the apex court came down heavily on the Tamilnadu Governor R.N Ravi asking, “who gave the authority to the Governor to refuse to administer oath to Ponmudi even after the judgment was suspended? Does the governor know the law or not? If the Governor does not administer the oath of office to Ponmudi by tomorrow (today), we will issue an order”. This order by the Supreme Court is one of the decisive steps taken to protect democracy.
The Supreme Court has already registered its condemnation a couple of times for Governor R.N. Ravi's continued arbitrariness in the matter of putting the files on hold or dragging them away without approving the files sent by the Tamil Nadu government. It inclused the Perarivalan case also.
The Chief Minister's power to appoint any MLA as a minister is his personal prerogative. The Supreme Court had already ruled in Senthilbalaji's nomination case that the Governor had no right to refuse it. Governor R.N Ravi knows this but his reapeated manner of doing things is a mystery. There is a suspicion that there is some political background in this.
In 2001, the then Governor Fatima Beevi administered the oath of office to Jayalalithaa as the Chief Minister who was not an MLA, DMK general secretary Professor K. Anbazagan filed a case against this. Then the Supreme Court questioned how you administered the oath as Chief Minister to someone who was not an MLA. Subsequently, the Supreme Court ordered the disqualification of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her cabinet.
Subsequently, Fatima Beevi resigned from her post. Similarly, political party leaders have been demanding that Governor R.N Ravi, who is constantly condemned by the court, should resign or the Union Government should instruct him to resign. That is what is reverberating all over Tamilnadu today.
Will R.N Ravi resign from the post of Tamil Nadu Governor?