The Governor, who has no power to dismiss a minister from the Council of Ministers, should discharge his duty as stipulated in the Indian Constitution, which will dignify the Constitutional post he holds, Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu has said.
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During an informal chat with reporters, Mr. Appavu, while participating in a function organised by Nehru Yuva Kendra here on Friday, said BJP’s veteran leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, who were accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case, appeared for trials of the case even as they were Union Ministers.
Even though they were arrested and remanded in judicial custody, they continued to be ministers and none had removed them from the Council of Ministers.
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Tami Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi, who dismissed V. Senthilbalaji from the Council of Ministers, had understood within four-and-a-half hours that that the Governor, as per Indian Constitution, had no powers to dismiss a minister.
The Supreme Court, in its recent ruling, had made it clear that the Governor had the power only to invite the head of the political party enjoying the backing of more number of MLAs to form the government.
After the head of the government gave the list of ministers, the Governor should accept it and administer them the oath of office and secrecy, as prescribed by the Indian Constitution.
“A minister can resign on his or her own from the Cabinet or the Chief Minister can drop a minister from the Cabinet. If a minister is sentenced to two years of imprisonment or more, they will have to resign. If an MP or an MLA gets a similar punishment, the Speaker will disqualify them from the House, which happened to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi following conviction in a defamation case. But, the Governor has no power to dismiss a minister from the Cabinet as per the Indian Constitution,” Mr. Appavu said.
