New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Friday directed deletion of certain insinuations made by the Tamil Nadu Government in a suit filed in 2004 against the Centre, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi in the transfer/removal of the then State Governor, P. S. Ramamohan Rao.

The suit filed by the then Chief Secretary, Lakshmi Pranesh, sought a direction to restrain the Centre from appointing a new Governor without the consent of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. At that time the apex court declined to grant any interim relief. It had directed the Registry to process the suit and list it for hearing in due course. Subsequently, Mr. Rao resigned.

The matter was listed for further hearing on Friday.

Submission

The suit challenged the alleged proposal of the Centre to transfer Mr. Rao without the consent of the State Government. It submitted that under the Constitutional scheme of appointment of Governors, the consent of the Chief Minister was essential. But the Centre was attempting to transfer the Governor without consulting the Chief Minister.

The suit sought a declaration that the President/Union of India could not appoint, remove or transfer a Governor to the State except with the prior consent of the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister of the State concerned. The suit also sought a declaration that the Centre should frame an appropriate legislation providing for the mode and the manner of appointment, removal and transfer of a Governor.

Certain averments

In the fresh application, the State said certain averments in the suit were based on newspaper reports believed to be correct. After due verification it was felt that these portions should be deleted and sought a direction in this regard.

The offending portions related to the paragraphs that said: "The office of a Governor is an independent office having its own halo. It cannot be permitted to be undermined by an ever-dithering Central Government headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh."

"The DMK wants to have a Governor who can act on the diktat of the DMK. The DMK wants to change the Governor with a view to destabilising the present Government. The attempt by DMK is to some how ensure that the present Government is removed by forcing the Governor to submit a report under Article 356 of the Constitution recommending dissolution of the Assembly."

"When its [DMK] leader [M. Karunanidhi] was arrested in a corruption case [in 2001], they tried to get the Governor Fatima Beevi to sign on the dotted line for a Article 356 (1) report, falsely suggesting breakdown of the Constitutional machinery by waking her up at 2 a.m. in the night and when she did not budge, the next morning she was dismissed."

"The cause of action arose on October 23, 2004 when the DMK chief refused to meet the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, in a bid to put pressure on him to remove the present Governor. The entire attempt of the DMK is to somehow remove the present Governor who is not prepared to be a puppet in the hands of the DMK and plant somebody of their choice to destabilise the government."

Today, the Bench ordered deletion of these averments after hearing senior counsel P.P. Rao and counsel Subramonium Prasad.

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