New Delhi: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday approached the Supreme Court against Governor RN Ravi’s refusal to swear-in K Ponmudi as minister after the top court “suspended” his conviction early this month in a disproportionate assets case.

“The respondent (Governor) is attempting to run a parallel government and is attempting to choose minister as per his subjective assessment of suitability, which is impermissible,” the state said in its application filed in a pending petition by the state last year challenging Governor’s inaction to clear pending bills and appointments.

Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and P Wilson mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud requesting for urgent listing. “It is about the same errant Governor who was earlier dealt by this Court,” said Singhvi pointing to the Court orders passed in November and December last year taking exception to the inordinate delay by Governor to clear 10 bills.

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Singhvi told the Court that the state is forced to again approach the Court after a communication written by chief minister MK Stalin for swearing-in K Ponmudi as higher education minster has been refused by the Governor. Ponmudi stood disqualified on December 21, 2023 when the Madras high court convicted and sentenced him to three years imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case. But on March 11, the top court suspended the conviction order, thus removing the bar existing on him under the Representation of Peoples Act to continue in office.

“The Governor says this it is constitutionally immoral for him to appoint the minister,” Singhvi said, informed the Court that a mail has been sent to the Registry seeking urgent listing. The bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said, “You circulate the mail. We will look into it.”

The Governor’s letter to the chief minster on March 17 stated that the conviction has only been “suspended, not set aside”. He further claimed that Ponmudi is “tainted of corruption” and his appointment would be against “constitutional morality”.

The application by the state sought an immediate direction to the Governor to act on the CM’s recommendation and appoint Ponmudi as a minister. It said, “The Governor is bound by the orders of the Supreme Court of India under Articles 142 and 144 of the Constitution of India. The interpretation given by the respondent (Governor) to an order of this Court acting as if he was a super appellate authority is a blatant violation of the order of this Court.”

Terming the Governor’s letter to be unconstitutional, illegal and amounting to contempt of Court, the state said, “It is well settled that when it comes to appointment of a minister, the suitability of the person to be appointed is assessed only by the chief minister who alone has sole discretion under Article 164(1) to choose a person as minister. A Governor cannot decide who should be a minister on moral grounds or any other grounds. That sole prerogative is with the chief minister.”

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Further, it clarified that when the top court suspends an order of conviction, the order becomes “non-existent” in the eyes of law. “The action of the Governor is prima facie contumacious and amounts to willful violation of the order of this Court…. The refusal to abide by the chief minister’s recommendation is in the teeth of Article 164(1).”

The Madras high court, by separate orders on December 19 and 21 last year, had reversed a well-reasoned acquittal order passed by the trial court in April 2016 against Ponmudi and his wife P Visalakshi. The trial court had held that clubbing the property of Ponmudi with his wife is not permissible under law as she is not a public servant, but runs independent business and has separate source of income.

The FIR against him was registered in 2011 on the allegation that during his tenure as minister of mines and higher education in the state between 2006 to 2010, he acquired assets that were nearly 66% more than his known sources of income.

While suspending the conviction, the top court had on March 11 held that disqualifying him for holding office of minister and MLA would be an “irreversible situation”. Following the SC order, the Speaker of TN Assembly declared that Ponmudi’s disqualification had ceased to operate and even the Election Commission on March 16 withdrew the notification of vacancy of Thirukovilur assembly seat, on account of Ponmudi’s disqualification.