Slamming the BJP-led Central government’s Presidential reference before the Supreme Court questioning the landmark verdict in the Tamil Nadu Governor’s case, Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin on Thursday termed it a blatant and desperate attempt to subvert the Constitutional position settled by the apex court.

The chief minister was reacting to the Presidential reference made by President Droupadi Murmu to the Supreme Court seeking its opinion on whether the court could invoke its inherent powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to impose timelines and prescribe the manner of conduct of Governors and the President in dealing with the Bills passed by the State Assemblies sent to them either for assent or reserved for consideration.

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“I strongly condemn the Union government’s Presidential reference, which attempts to subvert the Constitutional position already settled by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the Tamil Nadu Governor’s case and other precedents. This attempt clearly exposes the fact that the Tamil Nadu Governor acted at the BJP’s behest to undermine the people’s mandate. This is nothing but a desperate attempt to weaken democratically elected State Governments by placing them under the control of Governors serving as agents of the Union Government,” Stalin said in a hard-hitting post on ‘X’, adding that “it also directly challenges the majesty of law and the authority of the Supreme Court as the final interpreter of the Constitution.

“Why should there be any objection to prescribing time limits for Governors to act?” he asked and questioned whether the BJP was attempting to legitimise its Governors’ obstruction by allowing indefinite delays in Bill assent. “Does the Union Government intend to paralyse non-BJP State Legislatures? Our nation stands at a critical juncture. The questions raised in the reference reveal the BJP-led Union Government’s sinister intent to distort the Constitution’s basic distribution of powers and incapacitate the State Legislatures dominated by opposition parties,” read the post.

The Presidential reference, Stalin said ‘posed an existential threat to State autonomy’ and given the grave circumstances he urged all non-BJP states and party leaders to join this legal struggle to defend the Constitution. “We will fight this battle with all our might. Tamil Nadu will fight – and #TamilNadu will win!” he concluded.

Interestingly, the Modi government’s move to have a presidential reference arises out of the April 8, judgment of the apex court bench, comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan on a petition by the Tamil Nadu Government challenging Governor RN Ravi’s inordinate delay in clearing 10 bills re-passed by the Assembly and his subsequent action to reserve them for the President’s consideration. Indicting the Governor, the court made it clear in unequivocal terms that his action was unconstitutional and by invoking Article 142, ordered that the Bills were deemed as having assented. The Court also set timelines for the President and Governors to dispose of State Bills.

Wasting no time, the Tamil Nadu Government also published in the Gazette all the 10 Bills, which strip the power of the Governor as Chancellor of State-run Universities in the appointment of Vice-Chancellors which has remained a bone of contention between the Raj Bhavan and the DMK Government. The state government had also amended the selection procedure for Vice-Chancellors, removing the Governor’s nominee as convenor of the selection committees for VC selection. The Governor’s nominee will be a member along with the nominees of the State Government and the Syndicate of the respective Universities. And, the selection panel will henceforth submit its report, containing the names of three candidates to the State Government. Earlier, it was submitted to the Governor-Chancellor.