A pragmatic arrangement
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MEANINGS are given in BOLD and ITALIC
What threatened to become a constitutional impasse (a road with no exit) in Tamil Nadu has been averted (to turn away ; to prevent) with Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao allocating (to set aside for a purpose) the portfolios held by the ailing Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, to her seniormost colleague in the Cabinet, O. Panneerselvam. He also made it clear that Mr. Panneerselvam will preside over Cabinet meetings. The arrangement, to continue until Ms. Jayalalithaa resumes her duties, is undoubtedly a pragmatic (useful in practise, not just a theory) move, as it addresses the concern about who is responsible for governance in the interregnum (a period of time which normal executive leadership is interrupted) caused by the Chief Minister’s hospitalisation.
Mr. Rao appears to have broached the need for an interim (caretaker) arrangement with representatives of the AIADMK government as soon as it became clear that Ms. Jayalalithaa would require a prolonged stay in hospital. Opposition parties were getting uneasy over the possibility that unelected members of her inner circle could be calling the shots. Perhaps the arrangement could have been made a few days earlier, if only the ruling party had shown less reluctance (unwillingness to do something) to acknowledge the reality that the Chief Minister’s health does not permit her to discharge her duties. It is a matter of satisfaction that the impasse has ended. Given the constitutional bar on any such inquiry, it will be unwise to question the claim that the present arrangement has been made “as per the advice” of the Chief Minister.
Developments in 1984, when Governor S.L. Khurana reassigned M.G. Ramachandran’s portfolios to V.R. Nedunchezhiyan and asked the latter to preside over Cabinet meetings, constitute a guiding precedent (the previous version) favoured by several jurists (the judge ; an expert in law) . D.D. Basu says in his Shorter Constitution of India: “If the Governor allocates the functions of the Chief Minister, under Art.166(3), to some other Minister during the temporary absence (say, illness) of the Chief Minister, the functions of the Chief Minister under the Constitution can be discharged by that other Minister, e.g., to preside over meetings of the Council of Ministers; to communicate to the Governor the decisions of the Council of Ministers under Art.167(a); to advise dissolution of the Legislative Assembly under Art.174(2)(b).”
It is often said that the Constitution is wisely silent on some aspects, so that constitutional functionaries are not unduly (not warranted) constrained (to keep within close bounds) by mere words and may act effectively to deal with a variety of emergent situations. However, given what has transpired recently in Tamil Nadu, it may be advisable to adopt the convention that the minister next in seniority to the Chief Minister is automatically recognised as officiating chief executive when she or he is temporarily unavailable, due to ill-health or otherwise.
