PROTRACTED GOVT-GUV STANDOFF DISHONOURS GOVERNANCE, DECORUM

IN the three years and four months that R N Ravi has been governor of Tamil Nadu, his conflicts with the ruling DMK government have become a wearying matter of public discourse, with the Raj Bhavan appearing bent on thwarting every other act of the elected government.

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The state government has sought recourse in the judiciary more than once. Last week, the Supreme Court directed the two parties to resolve the issue of forming search panels for vice-chancellors of state varsities-six of which are without heads due to the intractable standoff-by the next hearing on January 22, or the court would do so itself. This comes days after Raj Bhavan described Chief Minister MK Stalin as 'arrogant' in response to the latter terming Ravi 'childish' for walking out of the assembly for the third year in a row.