A petition has been filed with the Madras High Court against the Governor of Tamil Nadu, RN Ravi
Chennai:
A Dravidian team has petitioned Madras High Court alleging that Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi holds an “office of profit” as he is the chairman of the Auroville Foundation and thus has a “disqualification” has incurred. The petitioner prayed that he would be relieved of his duties.
In its petition, it requested Mr Ravi for a designation and asked him to demonstrate and explain how he holds the constitutional post of governor and under what authority (Quo warranto writ) for reason.
M. Kannadasan, Chairman of the Kanchipuram District Unit of Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK), argued that since Mr Ravi was appointed as governor in September 2021, he “emerged as a controversial figure”. He was disqualified in “many ways” and should therefore be removed from his position.
The Union Ministry of Education had issued a notice in October 2021 nominating Mr. Ravi as the chairman of the Auroville Foundation for four years. Together with him, eight other persons were nominated as members.
As of October last year, Mr. Ravi has become the “full-time chairman” of the foundation.
“It’s a public office, with salary, benefits and there are terms of service like leave, pension, provident fund and other things. So it’s an office of profit.”
Under section 158(2) of the Constitution, a governor may not hold any other office of profit. Thus, in violation of the provisions of the Constitution, Mr. Ravi assumed the office of profit. This has caused him to be disqualified and therefore he should be relieved of the position of governor, the petition demanded.
According to the petitioner, Mr Ravi participated in public meetings and spoke about the principles of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He pleaded Sanatana Dharma as the best in the world. Ever since “sanatana dharma” divides the people into four varnas and discriminates against the principles of the Dravidian movement, which works towards a casteless society.
The petitioner said that the governor was also “criticised” for not removing the files sent to him for approval by the state government. Without any reason, he has put the files on hold for months, which harms the public interest.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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