Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday indicated that the Tamil Nadu government might move court against Governor R.N. Ravi withholding assent to several Bills passed in the State Assembly.
“We, too, are consulting legal experts on whether to approach court,” he said, asked whether his government would follow in the footsteps of the Telangana government, which had moved the Supreme Court against the delay in Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan clearing Bills passed by the State Legislature.
Passing orders on the petition, the Supreme Court, in April, had held that Governors should return “as soon as possible” the Bills which they wanted to be reconsidered.
Mr. Stalin also backed Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy’s charge that Mr. Ravi was responsible for the delay in holding convocations at many State universities. “That’s why we say the Chief Minister should be the Chancellor of universities,” he responded, when asked about a possible solution.
The Governor, incidentally, had not granted assent to a Bill seeking to replace the Governor with the Chief Minister as the Chancellor of the State universities.
The Chief Minister said he would attend the meeting of Opposition leaders convened by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna for June 23. The meeting will chalk out a strategy for the Lok Sabha election.
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Speaking to reporters in Tiruchi after inspecting the desilting of irrigation canals in Thanjavur and Tiruchi districts, Mr. Stalin said his government would continue to protect the rights of the Cauvery delta and work for the development of the agriculture sector.
Answering a question on the new Congress government in Karnataka pressing ahead with the proposal to construct a dam across the Cauvery at Mekedatu, Mr. Stalin said that not only the present government but also the previous governments had been saying that they would build the dam. “We are strongly opposed to it and will stand firm, just as Kalaignar [late M. Karunanidhi] was, on the issue,” he affirmed.
This year, ₹90 crore was allotted for desilting irrigation canals to a length of 4,773 km by the Water Resources Department in the Cauvery delta and neighbouring districts. About 96% of the work had already been completed. This and other desilting/renovation work taken up by the Agricultural Engineering and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Departments would be completed over the next few days and water would be released for irrigation from the Mettur dam on the scheduled date of June 12 this year. Over the past two years, foodgrain production had increased, he said, expressing confidence that the State would better the “achievements” this year.
On the power tariff hike, the Chief Minister reiterated that there would be no change in the tariff for domestic consumers and all free power connections would continue. Only for commercial establishments, there will be a hike of 13 to 23 paise in view of the guidelines of the Centre. The tariff, however, was still lower than the charges in other States.
“The AIADMK government had hiked power tariff across the board. When former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was in hospital, the previous government had signed the UDAY Scheme [Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana agreement with the Centre] and this is the reason for all the problems now,” he maintained.
The Chief Minister said the government was considering the proposal by TNCC leader M.K. Alagiri for naming the University of Madras after former Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi. “We are examining whether to name an existing university or a new university after him.”
“The news is that there is going to be a change only in the Union [Cabinet],” he responded, commenting on speculation on a change in the State Cabinet, with his son and Minister for Sports Development Udhayanidhi Stalin being made the Deputy Chief Minister.
The Chief Minister also interacted with beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme at Alangudi near Lalgudi and received petitions from members of the public during his inspection.
