New Delhi:The Attorney General R Venkataramani has informed the Supreme Court that the Tamil Nadu governor has observed that the DMK government in the state has maintained no transparency in the entire selection process for the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission.
The AG, in a note, regarding proposals related to appointment of Members of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, said: “The Governor has observed that there is no transparency in the entire selection process. Further, he found that the person sought to be appointed as Chairman will have less than a year in office, if appointed”.
The note said: “Moreover, one of the members recommended had been suspended for maladministration by the college where he was working as Associate Professor and the suspension was also upheld by the appellate authority”.
The AG said as the concerns of the governor in the manner of selection were not addressed by the government, the concerned proposal had been returned back on October 26, 2023, and currently, this matter is not pending in the office of the governor. “However, it may be noted that the Governor has approved all the other proposals for appointment received from the Government”, said the note.
On the issue of setting up a search committee for selection of vice chancellors in three state universities, the AG said: “Written communications were sent to the Government to reconstitute the Search cum Selection Committee as per the above Judgement and UGC Regulations, 2018. Since the government did not reconstitute the Committee as per UGC Regulations, despite repeated reminders, the Governor – Chancellor had no other option but to add the nominee of the UGC Chairman and reconstitute the Search cum Selection Committee and notify the same”.
The note said in the case of University of Madras, the Governor-Chancellor has added the UGC chairman’s nominee and constituted the search cum selection committee. The note further added that since January, 2020, the governor has received 181 Bills, out of which, as many as 152 were assented to, nine were reserved for the consideration of the President and 10 were withheld and five were still under process.
"As on November 16, 2023, only five Bills which have been received in the month of October 2023, are under consideration. On November 18, 2023, a special session of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly was held and all the 10 Bills for which assent was withheld by the Governor, were reconsidered and passed in the Assembly. All the 10 Bills have been sent by the state government to the Governor’s Secretariat on November 18, 2023," said the note.
On the proposals for premature release of convicts, the AG said out of 580 proposals, 362 were approved, 165 were rejected, and 53 were still under the examination. “Out of the 53 pending proposals, two were received on 20 June, 2023, one on 4 August, 2023, one on 9 August, 2023 and remaining 49 were received on 24 August, 2023. All the pending proposals have been received recently”, said the note
On November 20, acting on a writ petition by the Tamil Nadu government, the Supreme Court questioned the delay on the part of the governor R N Ravi of Tamil Nadu in disposing of bills submitted for his assent, saying that the bills have been pending since January 2020, and what was the governor doing for three years?
