His statement came a day after the Supreme Court said on the Presidential Reference matter that governors and the President cannot be bound by judicially imposed timelines.
“In cases of prolonged, unexplained, and indefinite delay by the Governor in considering a Bill, states can approach the Constitutional courts and hold Governors accountable for their deliberate inactions,” Stalin said.
The chief minister claimed that the SC ruling on Thursday will have no impact on the April 8 judgment in the ‘State of Tamil Nadu vs Governor’ case over the issue of Governor RN Ravi not giving his assent to bills.
Tamil Nadu has alleged that governors in non-BJP ruled states across the country are acting as “political agents of the national party” and stalling functions of the state.
“I believe that no constitutional authority can claim to be above the Constitution,” Stalin said. “When even a high Constitutional authority breaches the Constitution, the Constitutional courts are the only remedy, and the doors of the court must not be closed. This would undermine the rule of law in our constitutional democracy and encourage breaches of the Constitution by governors acting with political intent.”The state moved the Supreme Court earlier this year amid prolonged tensions between the DMK-led TN government and Governor Ravi, who had withheld assent to several state bills – some for over two years – and later forwarded ten of them to the President after the assembly re-enacted them.
The Supreme Court in its April 8 judgement had struck down Tamil Nadu Governor Ravi’s decision to reserve 10 re-enacted state bills for Presidential assent after having earlier withheld approval, declaring the move “erroneous” and in violation of the Constitution. A majority of the 10 bills were related to vesting the powers of appointing vice chancellors to state varsities from the governor (the de facto chancellor) to either the chief minister or the state government.
