New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Friday warned Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi and the ruling DMK to sort out their long-running squabble over the appointment of vice-chancellors for state-run universities.

A bench led by Justice SB Pardiwala told both sides – who have bickered, for years now, over the Governor’s refusal to clear a clutch of bills designed to limit his powers to appoint vice-chancellors – that, “By next date (of hearing) if this is resolved… well and good. Otherwise, we will resolve it.”

The row stems from the Governor’s insistence on appointing the vice-chancellors in his capacity as the honorary chancellor of universities run by the Tamil Nadu government. The two sides also disagree over the Governor’s ability to appoint personnel to the state’s Public Service Commission.

The state moved the court last year after Mr Ravi set up a committee to name vice-chancellors for the University of Madras, Bharathiar University, and the Tamil Nadu Teachers Training University.

The state called the move “illegal” and reconstituted the committee, removing members from the University Grants Commission, a statutory body under the Union Education Ministry.

Mr Ravi later withdrew the search committees he had set up.

Earlier the DMK moved the court seeking directions to the Governor to clear several bills, including two passed by the preceding All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led government.

The ruling party accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-appointed Mr Ravi of deliberately delaying the bills and scuttling the state’s development by “undermining the elected administration”.

READ | Tamil Nadu Governor Returns 10 Bills, Week After Court’s Concerns

In an earlier hearing, in November 2023, the court took a dim view of the allegations, and asked the Governor, “These bills (have been) pending since 2020. What were you doing for three years?”

READ | “What Was Governor Doing For 3 Years?” Top Court On Tamil Nadu Bills

The court – which was told Mr Ravi had returned 10 bills and was then hearing similar pleas by the Punjab and Kerala, ruled by parties opposed to the BJP – also raised a point of law, asking, “Can a Governor withhold assent on a bill without sending it back to the Assembly?”

The court also noted the Governor of any state – under Article 200 of the Constitution – had only three options – clear bills presented to him, withhold assent, or send the bills to the President.

Appearing then for Mr Ravi, Solicitor General Tushar Ravi argued the Governor, of any state, “is not a mere technical supervisor” and that s/he had an important role to play in passing bills.

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New Delhi:

Hitting out at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin for his “childish” jab amid the National Anthem row, Governor RN Ravi has said “such arrogance is not good” and warned that the country would not tolerate such “brazen insult” of the anthem and the Constitution.

The DMK government in Tamil Nadu and the Raj Bhavan have been trading barbs after the Governor walked out of the Assembly on January 6 in protest of the National Anthem not being sung at the beginning of his address.

As per the tradition in Tamli Nadu Assembly, state anthem Tamil Thai Valthu is sung when the House meets and the National Anthem at the end. But, Governor Ravi has taken exception to this norm and said the national anthem should be sung at both times.

Thiru @mkstalin asserts that insisting on due respect to the National Anthem and doing fundamental duties enshrined in the Constitution is “absurd” and “childish”. Thanks for betraying the true intentions of the coalition of interests and ideologies to which he is a leader that…

— RAJ BHAVAN, TAMIL NADU (@rajbhavan_tn) January 12, 2025

“The Constitution of Bharat and the National Anthem were once again insulted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly today. Respecting the National Anthem is among the first Fundamental Duty as enshrined in our Constitution. It is sung in all the state legislatures at the beginning and the end of Governor’s address,” the Raj Bhavan said in a statement after the Governor’s walkout. “Today on arrival of Governor to the House only Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu was sung. Governor respectfully reminded the House of its Constitutional Duty and fervently appealed to the Hon’ble Chief Minister who is the Leader of the House and the Hon’ble Speaker for singing the National Anthem. However, they cussedly refused. It is a matter of grave concern. Not to be a party to such brazen disrespect to the Constitution and the National Anthem, Governor in deep anguish left the House,” the Raj Bhavan said.

Soon after, Chief Minister MK Stalin said in a post on X that the Governor had made it a custom to violate the Assembly’s tradition and called his actions “childish”. “According to the Constitution, it is a tradition of legislative democracy for the state governor to read the government’s address at the beginning of the year! He has made it his custom to violate it. It is childish that the governor, who has cut out what was there and added what was not, has gone without reading it this time,” he said, referring to passages skipped by the Governor in his earlier speeches in the Assembly.

Doubling down, the DMK chief yesterday told the House, “The Governor comes to the Assembly but returns without addressing the House. That’s why I had said his actions were childish.

“I think the Governor is unable to digest the fact that Tamil Nadu is developing. I may be an ordinary person but this Legislative Assembly came into existence due to the feelings of crore of people,” Mr Stalin said, adding that the Assembly “should not see such things again”.

Hitting back, the Raj Bhavan’s official handle posted on X today, “Thiru @mkstalin asserts that insisting on due respect to the National Anthem and doing fundamental duties enshrined in the Constitution is “absurd” and “childish”. Thanks for betraying the true intentions of the coalition of interests and ideologies to which he is a leader that does not accept and respect Bharat as a nation and Her Constitution.”

“Such arrogance is not good. Please do not forget that Bharat is the supreme Mother and the Constitution the supreme faith for her children. They will not like or tolerate such brazen insult,” it added.

Governor Ravi and the MK Stalin government have shared frosty ties ever since he took over in 2021. The DMK government has accused him of acting like a BJP spokesperson and blocking Bills and appointments. The Governor has said the Constitution empowers him to withhold his assent to legislation. The dispute between the Raj Bhavan and state government has also reached the Supreme Court and the Rashtrapati Bhavan.