Chennai | The Tamil Nadu Raj Bhawan on Sunday issued a statement threatening “imprisonment” of those preventing the governor from exercising his powers vested under the Constitution.
A statement from Raj Bhavan stated that the “office of the governor” is protected under IPC Section 124. “Attempts to restrain the governor from exercising any of the lawful powers by means of criminal force or attempts to overawe such governor shall be punished with imprisonment of up to seven years, and a fine,” the statement said.
The statement said that the institution of the governor is that of a Constitutional authority who enjoys full authority and freedom to visit any part of the state. Being the head of the executive, he enjoys unhindered freedom to meet and interact with officials of the state. “In no case so far has there been an instance of the governor criticizing the performance of any department or of giving a direction to any official, the statement said. “He (Stalin) is either ignorant of the law or attempting to overawe by threatening to besiege Raj Bhavan or block the roads leading to the Raj Bhavan,” the statement said.
Commenting on the statement, DMK president M K Stalin said that the governor is “indulging in direct politics” and condemned the threat of imprisonment.
Stalin said that “The DMK is against such visits by the governor to review functioning of the government departments, since it is an attempt at parallel governance. The DMK will continue to hold black flag demonstrations in its efforts to safeguard the interests of the states.”
The Raj Bhawan statement has come after black flag were demonstrated by the DMK cadres at Namakkal during governor’s visit on Friday. Several DMK partymen were taken into custody. Earlier on Saturday M K Stalin led a protest march towards Raj Bhavan to lay siege to the governor’s residence. Stalin, several DMK leaders and partymen and women were taken into custody and were later let off.
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