Despite Supreme Court Rap, Governor Returns 10 Bills

Chennai: Days after the Supreme Court pulled up the Governors of Punjab and Tamil Nadu over delay in giving their nod to bills passed in state assemblies, there seems to be no change.

Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Thursday returned 10 pending bills, two of which were passed by the earlier AIADMK government, according to sources in the state Law department.

Soon after the bills were returned, Assembly Speaker M Appavu summoned a special session on Saturday.

The ruling DMK is expected to send the bills straight back in an attempt to force the Governor’s hands as it will be mandatory for him to sign on them so that they become laws.

The state government has been at loggerheads with the Governor, who has been accused of deliberately delaying clearance of bills and scuttling the state’s development by “undermining the elected administration.”

One of the pending bills seeks to clip the Governor’s authority to appoint Vice-Chancellors of state-run universities, while another is about prosecution of ex-ministers from the AIADIMK.

Ravi earlier returned the NEET Exemption Bill before forwarding it to the President after the Assembly passed it again.