'You have no power to dismiss my ministers', Tamil Nadu CM Stalin says in letter to Governor R N Ravi

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday categorically told Governor R N Ravi that he has “no powers to dismiss my ministers” and that his communication on dismissing minister V Senthil Balaji from the Cabinet has been “disregarded” since it is “unconstitutional.”

Stalin’s assertions, which are part of a strongly-worded letter to the Governor, mean the government wants Balaji to continue as a minister without a portfolio and has no intentions of dropping him despite his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a cash-for-jobs scam during his 2011-2015 tenure as Transport Minister in the erstwhile AIADMK government.

“I reiterate that you have no powers to dismiss my ministers. That is the sole prerogative of an elected Chief Minister. Your unconstitutional communication dismissing my minister without my advice is void ab initio and non-est in law and hence has been disregarded,” Stalin told Ravi.

The latest round of heated exchange of words will only intensify the battle between Raj Bhavan and Fort St George, the seat of power of the Tamil Nadu government. Governor Ravi has been pushing for Balaji’s ouster from the cabinet after the Supreme Court in May said there was no stay on the probe into charges against him. However, Stalin has been stonewalling the Governor's efforts.

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Referring to the two letters that the Raj Bhavan sent him on Thursday – dismissing Balaji and later putting on abeyance the decision – Stalin said it showed that the Governor did not even take a legal opinion before taking such an “important decision.”

“The fact that it needed the Hon’ble Home Minister’s intervention to direct you to take a legal opinion on this matter itself shows that you have acted in haste with scant regard to the Constitution of India,” Stalin wrote and told the Governor that though his letters require “only an outright disregard,” he penned the letter to clarify both the “facts and law” on the issue on hand.

Constitutional experts told DH that the Governor is constitutionally in the wrong as India has a Parliamentary system and not a Presidential one. They said the Governor may have a view, but cannot act on ministers without the aid of the Chief Minister.

Stalin said high constitutional authorities like the Governor must act with “dignity” and not “stoop to levelling veiled unsubstantiated threats” about “breakdown of Constitutional machinery” while dealing with an elected government that enjoys the confidence of the people who are the “ultimate sovereign.”

Contending that he has clearly set out the difference between a person facing investigation, a person against whom charges have been framed and a person convicted by a court, Stalin said Balaji will attract disqualification only after conviction whereas he is merely facing charges for now.

Maintaining that the Governor’s allegations that Balaji may interfere with the investigation in the case is “unfounded” and “baseless”, Stalin sought to turn the table on Ravi seeking to know why he continues to maintain an “inexplicable silence” on his government’s requests for sanction to investigate or prosecute former AIADMK ministers.

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“Even the request of CBI for sanction of prosecution in the Gutkha case (in which former AIADMK ministers are involved), has not been acted upon by you. In fact, these selective actions expose not only your unhealthy bias but also the real intent behind such dual standards adopted by you,” Stalin said.

Reiterating that Article 164(1) talks only about the Governor appointing and removing ministers only on the advice of the Chief Minister, Stalin said the Governor has no power to decide who should or should not be part of the Cabinet.

“That is the sole prerogative of the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers are in turn answerable to the elected Legislative Assembly under Article 164(2),” Stalin added.

Stalin also told the Governor that the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court has left it to the wisdom of the Prime Minister and Chief Minister to decide whether a person should continue as a Minister or not in their cabinet.

“Therefore, merely because an agency has commenced investigation against a person, he or she does not become legally incapacitated to continue as a minister,” Stalin said, strongly defending Balaji, who is now in judicial custody.