Nine days after AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa was convicted in a disproportionate assets case by a Bangalore special court, the air has been cleared over her not sending in a formal resignation letter to Governor K. Rosaiah.
Officials and constitutional experts confirm that it is only a matter of convention that a resignation letter is presented when a person demits office.
Ms. Jayalalithaa, who was Chief Minister at the time of conviction, did not submit any resignation letter, confirms an official at the Raj Bhavan. As the conviction has led to her instant disqualification as a member of the Assembly, in line with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Lily Thomas case last year, Ms. Jayalalithaa ceased to hold office.
It was for this reason that there was no government order to the effect that the Council of Ministers headed by her was no longer in office, another official explains.
In the normal course, an order would have been issued by the Governor on the outgoing Council of Ministers. This was done when DMK president M. Karunanidhi, who was Chief Minister during 2006-2011, quit office after his party was defeated in the 2011 elections.
But, now, a government order has been issued only on the appointment of O. Panneerselvam as Chief Minister and his Ministers.
The legal position regarding whether a disqualified person can remain as Chief Minister or Minister has been settled after the Supreme Court held in September 2001 that a non-legislator can be made Chief Minister or Minister only if he/she has the qualifications for membership of the legislature and “is not disqualified from the membership,” the experts point out.
At that time, the court quashed Ms. Jayalalithaa’s appointment as Chief Minister in view of her conviction in the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation land case.
‘Notification not needed’Pointing out that there is no need for issuing any gazette notification on the status of Ms. Jayalalithaa’s Ministry, the former Madras High Court Judge, K. Chandru, says it would be enough if the Governor is satisfied with materials available to him in any manner. In the present case, Mr. Panneerselvam has been elected duly by the AIADMK Legislature Party and the text of the party’s resolution was also submitted to the Governor.
