New Delhi: Tamil Nadu governor R.N. Ravi said on Thursday, April 6, that if a governor withholds assent to a Bill passed by the assembly, it means the “Bill is dead”.He made these comments during his interaction with civil service aspirants at Raj Bhavan in Chennai.Commenting on the assembly Bills forwarded to him for presidential assent, he said that “the governor has three options: give assent, withhold – meaning the Bill is dead – which the Supreme Court and the constitution uses as decent language to mean reject, and third, reserve the Bill for the president. This is the governor’s discretion.”According to the Hindu, Ravi also elaborated on the role of the governor, saying he has to see whether the Bill is exceeding the constitutional limit and whether the State is exceeding its competence.If the Bill exceeds the constitutional limit, it is the responsibility of the governor not to give assent, the newspaper reported him as saying.Responding to the governor’s comments, chief minister M.K. Stalin said that Ravi could not keep the Bills in abeyance. “It is an act of ineffective paralysis. If pressure is mounted, the governor will ask a question and send it back to the government and with this his duty is done,” PTI reported him as saying.He also claimed, per the news agency, that the governor had made a habit of delaying the Bills, ordinances and amendments conceived by the people’s representatives, and sent to him for approval.He added it was “unbecoming” of a person who holds a constitutional position to “withhold without boldly accepting or opposing” the Bills.About 14 files have been withheld by him, so far, PTI reported him as saying.Also read: The Tamil Nadu Governor Is Flouting Democratic Practices as a Political OfferingSeparately, the governor stoked a fresh controversy, saying that the anti-Sterlite protests in the state in 2018 had been fuelled by foreign funds and was aimed at hindering progress.During the protests, police opened fire on the protesters, killing 13 and injuring more than 100 people.Replying to a question on the government’s tightening of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), he said the government realised that a number of NGOs were receiving grants as regular remittances from donors sitting in foreign countries “for activities prejudicial or anti-national” in nature.DMK’s deputy general secretary and MP Kanimozhi condemned Ravi for “defaming the people’s struggle against Sterlite”, PTI reported.She demanded that the governor provide evidence to substantiate his claims on Sterlite.Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) chief Vaiko, an ally of the ruling DMK, dismissed Ravi’s comment on Sterlite as the “height of arrogance”, the news agency reported.Earlier in January, the governor had stoked another controversy by suggesting that the state be renamed from ‘Tamil Nadu’ to ‘Tamizhagam’. He had also replaced the state government’s emblem with that of the Union government’s in the Raj Bhavan’s official Pongal invitations.
