What is the issue?
- The utility of a politically vested governor (particularly if he is incongruous to the concerned state government) has been contested for long.
- Amid multiple controversies brewing, the calls for removing the current TN governor has gained significant strength.
What is the role of the Governor?
- Constitutional - Governor is the bridge between the concerned state government and the union government.
- The office needs to be above politics to maintain neutrality and deserve the trust all concerned political parties and people.
- He is the nominal executive head of the concerned state and exercises certain functions in accordance with the Constitution.
- The Governor will normally be aided and advised by the Council of Ministers except in those functions which specifically calls for his discretion.
- State Laws - Governor also enjoys statutory powers under laws made by the state legislatures (which can also be modified by the concerned legislatures).
- For example, Govener functions as ex-officio Chancellor of some universities through university specific laws like “Anna University Act - 1978”.
- The reason for such conferment is to ensure that the university administration and finances come under stricter and high profile supervision.
- In his capacity as chancellor, as the Governor is bound by state laws, it implicitly means that he has to work on the advice of the council of ministers.
- Significantly, this was even iterated in some of the previous Supreme Court pronouncements in landmark cases like “Samsher Singh vs. Punjab - 1974”.
What are the TN Governor’s misgivings?
- The Governor has also been conducting “review meetings” with officials across the state, which is an over-reach of his Constitutional duties.
- The appointment of a vice-chancellor to Anna University without consulting the state government is also a blatant violation of law.
- The Scandal - Recently, an assistant professor was found to be involved coercing her college students into an allegedly high profile sex-racket.
- Leaked voice tapes had actually even indicated the involvement of some form within the governor’s office – which was a shocker.
- In this backdrop, in an unprecedented over-reach into the state government’s domain, the governor commissioned an enquiry into the episode.
- Hence, when a press briefing was called for by the governor, it was thought that he would clarify the legal basis for his actions.
- Suspicion - Once the media interactions began, it became amply clear that he was ill prepared to handle the barrage of questions that were hurled at him.
- His only counter point to the accusations against of his alleged involvement in the controversy was that he was really old for such mis-deeds.
- Professionalism - At the end of the press interaction, the Governor patted a woman journalist in her cheek instead of replying to a question of hers.
- This was perceived as “sexually inappropriate, paternalistic and unprofessional” and promted outrage.
- Signficantly, the governor had later clarified that it was merely a grandfatherly affection and had apologised for the same, but that didn’t cut ice.
How does the future look?
- Due to the multiple controversies that the Governor has courted, many political parties have called for removal (or voluntary resignation).
- But the Governor is expected to braze the storm with stubbornness due the strong political backing that he seems to be enjoying from the ruling quarters.
- Significantly, the Supreme Court has specified multiple clauses for the removal of a Governor and “Unprofessional Conduct” is one of them.
Source: Indian Express
