Senior DMK leader K Ponmudy was on Friday re-inducted into the cabinet led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin following a tussle between the state government and the Governor.
Governor R N Ravi administered the oath of office to the minister in the presence of the chief minister at the Raj Bhavan in Chennai.
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“The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has recommended to the Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu to induct Dr. K. Ponmudy, in the Council of Ministers allocating the subjects Higher Education including Technical Education, Electronics, Science and Technology currently held by Thiru R.S. Rajakannappan, Minister for Backward Classes Welfare,” a release by the Raj Bhavan said.
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The development comes a day after the Supreme Court rapped the Governor for refusing to re-induct Ponmudy into the state cabinet.
On Thursday, the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud-led three-judge bench had said, “We are seriously concerned about the conduct of the Governor in this case… This is not the way. Because he is defying the Supreme Court of India. When a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court stays a conviction, the Governor has no business to tell us that this does not wipe out the conviction and it is non-existent.
“Those who have advised him have not advised him correctly in accordance with law. The governor better be informed that when the Supreme Court of India stays a conviction, the law has to follow its course,” he had said.
The Madras High Court had recently reversed Ponmudy’s acquittal in a case of disproportionate assets, but on March 13, a two-judge SC bench stayed this saying it would otherwise lead to irreversible consequences.
The court was hearing an application by the Tamil Nadu government, which said that after the SC order, Stalin had requested the Governor to administer the oath of office to Ponmudy. The Governor, while referring to the grounds on which he was convicted by the HC, refused the request and said “his reinduction while he remains tainted of corruption would be against constitutional morality”.
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