Tamil Nadu Assembly junks Governor Ravi opinion on Siddha University Act

CHENNAI: Continuing its stance against Governor RN Ravi, the state government has adopted a resolution in the ongoing Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (TNLA) session to reject the opinion of the gubernatorial head of the state on the Tamil Nadu Siddha Medical University Bill, 2025, which was tabled in the Assembly on Thursday.

Soon after state Health and Family Welfare Minister M Subramanian introduced the Bill, Chief Minister MK Stalin moved the resolution and informed the Assembly that the Bill falls under the category of Financial Bills that mandate reception of recommendations from the Governor as per the Article 207 (3) of Constitution.

"The health and family welfare department minister had prepared the draft Bill after considering the opinion and demands of the public and has been verified by the Law Department. The draft Bill was sent to the Governor. But, the Governor, instead of following the usual practice as per the Constitution, sent a message with his remarks on the Bill and demanded to read out his opinion while introducing the Bill in the Assembly," he added.

Saying that the demand of the Governor is against the norms of the Legislative Assembly, Stalin clarified that elected representatives alone have powers to propose amendments in the Bill and to seek voting. The Governor is not vested with the power to make an opinion on Bills before the Assembly passes them. "So, this Assembly will not accept the opinion sent with the message of the Governor," he declared.

Embarrassing Ravi further, Stalin expressed that the Governor has used the term "appropriate consideration" instead of "consideration".

"Synonyms of the word 'appropriate' are 'suitable' and 'proper'. Using the word appropriate implies that the Assembly is reviewing the Bills inappropriately and improperly. The message that affects the greatness of the Assembly cannot be accepted," he expressed.

Reiterating that the power to enact laws lies only with the Assembly, Stalin opined that anyone who believes in the principle of state federalism would not accept the message from the Governor. "So, I do not like to register such messages here (Assembly)," he said.

Soon after Stalin proposed the resolution and requested the members to support it, the Assembly passed the resolution unanimously.

Meanwhile, the Bill has named the chief minister as the chancellor of the Siddha Medical University, contrary to the norm wherein governors act as chancellors.

It may be noted that the State government and the Raj Bhavan are involved in a legal battle over the power to appoint vice-chancellors. The state government passed amendments to bills to claim the power and the case is pending in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the state government passed a bill a few months ago to establish Kalaignar University that proposed the chief minister as the chancellor. The Bill is awaiting the President's approval after Governor Ravi sent the Bill for presidential referral.