T.N. Governor resigns before recall

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, JULY 1. Giving in to the collective mood within the National Democratic Alliance to assert the Centre's authority vis-a-vis an unheeding Tamil Nadu Government, the Union Cabinet on Sunday recommended to the President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan, that he withdraw his pleasure from the Tamil Nadu Governor, Ms. Fathima Beevi. As the Cabinet saw it, the Governor failed to live up to the constitutional obligations of her office in the wake of the unprecedented arrest of the former Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, and two Union Ministers, Mr. Murasoli Maran and Mr. T. R. Baalu in Chennai on Saturday.

Rather than let the Centre invoke Article 156(1), the Governor sent in her resignation to the President, who forwarded it to the Prime Minister. It is believed Ms. Fathima Beevi's resignation will be accepted and the Andhra Pradesh Governor, Dr. C. Rangarajan, asked to hold ``additional charge'' of Tamil Nadu.

Having asserted its authority, the Centre is next slated to invoke Article 355 to issue a directive to the Tamil Nadu Government. (Article 355 reads: ``It shall be the duty of the Union to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the government of every State is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.'') The ``directive'' is likely to ask the State Government to ensure that federal officers (i.e. Union Ministers) are respected and protected, civil rights are not violated and the media is allowed to carry out its professional duties.

Cabinet meeting today

The Cabinet is scheduled to meet tomorrow evening to formally approve the ``directive''. By then the Cabinet should have before it the report of the Home Ministry team, which is in Tamil Nadu to assess the situation. Also, the NDA team, led by Mr. George Fernandes, should be making its report.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, presided over the Cabinet meeting which took note of the Governor's report on the situation and the circumstances in which Mr. Karunanidhi (and two Central Ministers) were arrested. The Governor's report itself came after the Centre virtually issued a kind of demarche to Ms. Fathima Beevi to send a report by nine this morning. The Governor's failure to send a report earlier was deemed as ``a clear defiance'' of the Centre's authority.

And, the Cabinet found the Governor's report totally unacceptable. As the Union Law Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitely, told reporters, the Cabinet found that the Governor had failed to make an independent assessment of the situation and was merely content to forward the State Government's views. According to a Cabinet Minister, the Governor's two and a half page report was, more or less, ``comma for comma, full stop for full stop'' reproduction of the report sent by the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary. This, according to Mr. Jaitely, constituted a default on the part of the Governor.

Moreover, the Cabinet found that the Governor's report was silent on ``the constitutional impropriety'' of the State police going to a Union Minister's residence and assaulting him when there was no case against him. Nor did the Governor's report make any mention of the Union Minister, Mr. Maran's ``delicate health''. The Union Ministers were outraged that despite television images of Mr. Maran being roughed up, the Governor merely cited the authority of the Chief Secretary that ``Mr. Maran has not been hurt at all''.

State Govt. views endorsed

As far as the Centre is concerned, the Governor was expected to exercise independent judgment; instead, she merely chose to endorse the views and assessment of the State Government. Officials were also unwilling to appreciate the argument that a Governor had no independent means of collecting information and verifying facts. It is pointed out that even in the most ordinary circumstances a Governor is expected to try independently to feel the pulse of people of the State. Ms. Fathima Beevi is seen as guilty of failing to explore judiciously the limits of independent gubernatorial judgment, as implied in Article 356.

Nor did the Cabinet find the Governor invoking the moral authority inherent in her office. For instance, Ms. Fathima Beevi is believed to have this to say on the arrest of nearly 23,000 DMK workers: ``The DMK is a very large party and this factor necessitated the arrest of so many people.''

At the meeting, the case for asserting the federal authority was forcefully made by Mr. Nitish Kumar, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, Mr. Sharad Yadav. There was total unanimity that the least the Centre could do was to recall the Governor. However, Mr. Jaswant Singh counselled caution when a demand for invoking Article 356 was raised; the Prime Minister too favoured a cautious approach.

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