Role of the governor is to uphold democracy, not kill it, says DMK leader

Amid the Supreme Court's scrutiny of Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi's delay in disposing of various bills, DMK leader TKS Elangovan slammed RN Ravi on Tuesday, saying that the role of the governor is to uphold democracy, not kill it."

"The governor is nothing; he will be changed. The governor's role is to uphold democracy; he is a part of democracy and his role is to uphold democracy not kill democracy. So whatever the Supreme Court said is right. He has to reply to the Supreme Court," DMK leader T. K. S. Elangovan told ANI on Tuesday.

Further, the DMK spokesperson criticised the act of withholding a bill without rejecting it. He emphasised that a governor should accept a bill passed by the legislative assembly unless there are legal issues. He also mentioned an instance where a bill was returned by the governor without any legal point being shown. Elangovan stressed that it's not for the governor to decide but for the elected government, as the people will question the government, not the governor.

"In a democracy, the legislative assembly is elected by the people; that is democracy. The governor is appointed head of state unless he has any doubts about the bill. If he needs some clarification on any bill passed by the legislature, he can send it back, but withholding the bill and saying withholding is not rejecting is the funniest thing in a democracy. Democracy is for the people. When a legislative assembly passes a bill, the governor has to accept it unless he finds anything that is legally wrong and he can seek clarification from the state cabinet. But without doing anything, he was holding the bill. Once he returned a bill, what he did was not show any legal point while returning the bill. It is not for him to decide; it is for the elected government to decide. Because people will only ask the government, not the governor," DMK leader T. K. S. Elangovan told ANI on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the Tamil Nadu Governor over the delay in disposing of various pending bills.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asked the reason for the delay while hearing the Tamil Nadu government plea.

The court noted that various bills were disposed of by the governor on November 13.

The top court expressed its concern, observing that bills were pending since January 2020 and were cleared after the apex court passed the order on November 10.

"It means that the governor took the decision after the court issued notice. What was the governor doing for three years?" the court said.

"Why should the governor wait for the parties to approach the Supreme Court?" the court asked.

Attorney General R Venkataramani clarified that the present governor has assumed office in November 2021. But the top court was not convinced by his submission.

The court adjourned the matter till December 1, when it was informed the Assembly had passed again the ten bills in a special session on November 18.