There are 21 Bills pending before the TN Governor: What experts think
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, on Thursday, June 2, met with the Governor RN Ravi and urged him to give early assent to the 21 Bills passed by the state Assembly. He had asked the Governor to give his assent to at the earliest "to uphold the spirit of the constitution and the will of the people of Tamil Nadu." Here is the list of the 21 Bills that were passed in the Tamil Nadu assembly since 2020 and have been pending with the Governor, as on May 31, 2022; and what experts think about the pendency of the Bills.
The Tamil Nadu Fisheries University (Amendment) Bill, 2020
The Bill was passed during the previous AIADMK regime, on January 9, 2020 and sent to the Governor for his assent on January 13. The Bill introduced by the then Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar, intends to confer the Government with the power of inspection and inquiry of the university, instead of the Chancellor. The Bill also demands that one Government nominee should be included in the selection panel of Vice-Chancellor.
The Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Amendment) Bill, 2020
This Bill also aims to confer the Government with the power of inspection and inquiry instead of the Chancellor, and was sent for Governor’s approval on January 18, 2020.
The Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022
This Bill passed on April 25, was considered to be one of the Bills directed to restrict the Governor’s powers. The Vice-Chancellors of the universities are usually appointed by the Governor (who is the Chancellor of the state-run universities). However, this Bill tabled by Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy empowers the state government to appoint Vice-Chancellors to the 13 state-run universities.
Chief Minister Stalin made an observation in the assembly while passing the Bill that the Governor was “acting as if he has a special power” in appointing VCs. “While it has been the practice that the Governor consults with the democratically elected (government) on appointing V-Cs, that has been changing in recent times, especially the past four years. The Governor has been acting as if he has a special power in appointing VCs. This habit of not respecting the government, which has the job of providing higher education, can be seen,” he said.
Three days after the Bill was passed, it was sent for Governor’s approval on April 28.
The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, Chennai (Amendment) Bill, 2022
This Bill was tabled on May 9, after the state adopted a Bill for empowering the state government to appoint VCs to the state-run universities. It will give powers to the state government to appoint the Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University. It was sent to the Governor on May 16.
The Chennai University (Amendment) Bill, 2022
This is similar to another Bill passed on the same day and sent for assent on April 28. It seeks to empower the State Government to appoint the Vice-Chancellor of the University. In addition, it also demands to include the Finance Secretary as a Syndicate Member of the University.
The Tamil Nadu Siddha Medical University Bill, 2022
The Tamil Nadu Siddha Medical University Bill was passed on April 27 to establish a separate Siddha University near Chennai for Indian Systems of Medicine. The university will be offering education on the Siddha, Ayurveda, Unani, Yoga and Naturopathy and Homeopathy streams of medicine, and the Chief Minister shall be serving as the university’s chancellor. This Bill was passed along with the other three Bills that demanded to empower the state government and clip the powers of the Governor. The Bill was sent for Governor’s assent on May 5.
The Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University (Amendment) Bill, 2022
This was the fourth Bill empowering the state government, passed on May 5, which gave powers to the state government to appoint the Vice Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University. The Bill was put forth by Minister of Law, Courts, Prisons and Prevention of Corruption S Regupathy. He had cited the Gujarat University Act, 1949 and the Telangana (Andhra Pradesh) Universities Act, 1991, as well as the Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000. The Bill was sent for assent on May 16.
The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (Amendment) Bill, 2022
Another Bill to empower the State Government to appoint the Vice Chancellor of The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, sent to the Governor on May 16.
The Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies (Second Amendment) Act, 2022
The Bill was passed on January 7, 2022, after allegations of financial irregularities in the societies. With the public and members raising complaints about the cooperative societies, the Bill was put forth by Cooperative Minister I Periyasamy, which includes a provision to reduce the term of office of the Board of Directors of the Societies from five years to three years. The Bill was sent for approval on January 12, 2022.
The Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies (Third Amendment) Bill, 2022,
meant to ensure proper control over the short term Cooperative credit structure societies; and
The Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies (Fourth Amendment) Bill, 2022,
to provide for initiation of surcharge action upto the period of seven years from the date of deduction of the fraudulent acts or any such omission, were all sent to the Governor on May 16.
The Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022
The Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022 demands to “provide statutory status to the Urban Development Authorities of Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Hosur urban agglomeration and also to the Urban Development authorities that may be constituted in future”, and was sent for approval on May 12, 2022.
The Tamil Nadu Apartment Ownership Bill, 2022
This Bill was passed by the Minister for Housing and Urban Development S Muthusamy, on May 7, to enact a new legislation that will be in line with the dynamic developments in the real estate industry. The Bill, when passed, will also provide clear distinction about the rights and responsibilities of apartment owners and the apartment complexes. The Bill sent for Governor’s approval on May 16, is reserved by the Governor for the assent of the President.
The Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies (Amendment) Bill, 2022
This Bill aims at the retrieval of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998 which has been suspended since 2000, meant to strengthen the urban local bodies. “There is an urgent and imperative need to provide an enabling environment through crucial legislative and institutional initiatives,” Minister KN Nehru had said in the assembly while tabling the Bill on May 10, which was later sent to the Governor on May 16.
The Tamil Nadu Municipal Laws and the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage (Amendment) Bill, 2022
The Bill aims to regulate the transportation, treatment and disposal of faecal, sludge and septage; and
The Tamil Nadu Repealing Bill, 2022,
which enables the state government to repeal obsolete and redundant Acts were both sent for Governor’s approval on May 16, 2022.
The Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Cyber law offenders, Drug-offenders, Forest offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic offenders, Sand offenders, Sexual offenders, Slum-grabbers and Video Pirates (Amendment) Act, 2022
delegates the power of the Government to an authority at the district level in respect of grant of temporary release of a person under detention to attend the death of their close relatives. It was sent for Governor’s approval on May 24.
The Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development (Amendment) Bill, 2022
To provide for change in the composition of the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Board to encourage private sector participation in infrastructure developments. This was also sent for Governor’s approval on May 24.
The Tamil Nadu Payment of Salaries (Amendment) Bill, 2022
To discontinue nomination from the Anglo Indian Community to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. It was sent to the Governor on May 16.
The Tamil University (Amendment) Bill, 2022
The Bill aims to omit the disqualification provided for persons with disabilities for being elected or nominated as a Member of the authorities of the University. The Bill was sent to the Governor on May 16.
The Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2022
The Bill meant to make suitable provision to determine the taxable turnover of the TASMAC was sent to the Governor on May 16.
Regarding the pendency of all the university-related Bills, educationist Prince Gajendra Babu said that the Governor was not aware of the ‘spirit behind the constitution’. “Neither does he know the value of the constitution, nor the pain that the makers of the constitution underwent to draft it. He has the least regard for the Indian Constitution. People should understand that he is making the entire legislative procedures infructuous, which means parliamentary democracy becomes meaningless. According to the Indian Constitution, people are the ultimate sovereigns, and they pass on the sovereignty to those who they elect through their votes. They vote based on the election manifesto,” he says and adds that the Governor was not allowing the election manifesto of DMK to be implemented.
“BJP state president K Annamalai staged a demonstration asking for the DMK’s election manifesto to be implemented. Rejection of the National Education Policy (NEP), creation of the State Education Policy (SEP), abolition of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) are all election promises, which the Governor is not allowing to be implemented. This is a challenge to the Constitution of India and federal polity,” he said.
Prince Gajendra Babu further added that the implication of this is the Governor’s message to the people, “Whomever you elect, they can do nothing. This is his message and he is making the people lose their faith in their vote. Once they lose this faith, there will be chaos and confusion, which will lead to dictatorship,” he added.
Saravanan Annadurai, spokesperson of DMK, said that the Governor was acting in an illegal manner, especially after what the Supreme Court said (in the AG Perarivalan case). “We don’t know what will make him move. Also, this is clear that the Governor is political. He is using his office for oblique political motives under the diktats of the BJP. The people of Tamil Nadu are watching this and the party will decide how to move forward on the inaction of the Governor,” he said and pointed out that the party had already demanded his ouster.
TNM contacted the AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan, to ask the party’s side of action regarding the two Bills passed during the AIADMK regime still waiting to be approved. Sathyan said that any Bill passed in assembly goes to the Governor and moves from there on. “We have other legal options if we get a negative remark from the Governor. So AIADMK explores legal options. But DMK puts the peg on the Governor and plays politics. We don’t do that and that is the fundamental difference,” he said. He further pointed out that the Perarivalan release had a foundation which was laid by the AIADMK. Further action on this will be decided by the party high command, he added.