Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday strongly disapproved of Governor R N Ravi’s decision to walkout of the Assembly without delivering the Customary Address on the opening session of the year.
Affront to Assembly Dignity
Describing the Governor’s action as an affront to the dignity of the Assembly, Stalin said the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly represented the sentiments of over eight crore people of the State and carried a legislative tradition spanning more than a century. Stalin, who is the president of the DMK, announced the party would take efforts, along with like-minded political parties across the country, to seek an amendment to the Constitution to clearly define and safeguard the convention of the Governor’s Address at the beginning of the year in State Legislatures.
Moving a resolution urging Speaker M Appavu to to take on record the prepared Governor’s Address, Stalin said the Governor had once again acted in violation of constitutional provisions and established legislative conventions by exiting the House without delivering the address prepared by the State government. He said such conduct was “not befitting the high office” held by the Governor.
Citing Article 176 of the Constitution, Stalin said the Governor’s Address is prepared by the elected State government and must be read in full, without deletions, alterations or the insertion of personal views. The Constitution does not provide scope for the Governor to omit portions of the address or seek clarifications during the address itself.
Prior Clarifications Addressed
The Chief Minister told the House although the Governor had earlier sought certain explanations through a letter, the State government had responded to those queries. Despite this, the Governor had, “deliberately and wilfully”, violated constitutional norms by leaving the Assembly without delivering the address.
He recalled his speech in the House on April 10, 2023, where he had stated that while leaders such as C.N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi had expressed critical views on the post of Governor, they had always upheld the dignity of the office and shown due respect to constitutional conventions. His government, too, had adhered to that principle and had taken all steps to ensure that the Governor delivered the address in accordance with established procedure. He expressed regret that the Governor had repeated similar conduct once again.
With the consent of the Speaker and by relaxing Rule 17 of the Assembly Rules, Stalin moved a resolution stating that the House did not accept the Governor’s act of leaving without reading the address sent by the Tamil Nadu government. The resolution further declared that the English version of the Governor’s address, would be deemed as having been read in the House. Only that and the Tamil version of the address read by the Speaker, the resolution and its outcome would form part of the official Assembly records.
After the resolution was adopted unanimously, he thanked the Members and said the recurring refusal by Governors to read the address prepared by elected governments was not a healthy practice and was being witnessed in several States. Such actions could not be treated as isolated incidents or dismissed as a one-day controversy.
