HC holds petition challenging Ravi’s position as Guv not maintainable

CHENNAI: The first division bench of Madras High Court on Thursday held a writ of quo warrant petition against TN Governor R N Ravi as not maintainable as the governor is immune as per the constitution of India.

The petition is for a direction to question how RN Ravi holds the post of Tamil Nadu governor while concurrently he has been serving as the chairman of board governors to the Auroville Foundation.

Heading the bench along with Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy, Acting Chief Justice T Raja rejected the petition as non-maintainable filed by M Kannadasan, district president, Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, Kancheepuram district.

The judges came to the decision on the ground that they could not issue notice to the governor in this regard as the latter has immunity under Article 361 of the Constitution of India. As per Article 361, no courts have the power to question the President of India and the governors of the states.

When the petitioner approached the Registry for filing his case, the HC Registry refused to number the petition. The Registry further listed the matter before the bench directly to decide over the maintainability of the petition.

After hearing the arguments from both sides, the judges reserved the matter on December 15 to decide on the maintainability as well as the merits of the case.

According to the petitioner, the President of India appointed Ravi as the governor of Tamil Nadu in September 2021 and the latter assumed charge on September 18, 2021.

"However, in October 2021, the union government appointed Ravi to the post of chairperson to the board of governors of the Auroville Foundation. As per Section 13 of the Auroville Foundation Act of 1988, the post of Chairperson has a salary, allowances, provident fund, pension, and leave benefits. Therefore, it should be considered as the office of profit and the governor should not hold that role as it is unconstitutional, " senior advocate S Doraisamy for the petitioner argued.

Nevertheless, the judges rejected the case citing Article 361 under which the court could not issue any notice to governor Ravi.