May 6 this year will go as a Red-Letter day in the history of Tamil Nadu legislature. It was on that day that the Lok Sabha passed the Bill, moved by the Union Law Minister Thiru Veerappa Moily, to set up a Legislative Council in Tamil Nadu, the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council Bill providing for an Upper House in the State with 78 members. The Rajya Sabha approved the Bill on May 5 after the Union Cabinet cleared it on May 4. Union Minister of State for Parliament Affairs Thiru M.Narayanaswamy had stated that this was the first time when an Amendment Bill was passed on the same day it was placed before the two Houses.
It is heartening to note that except the ADMK and Left parties all other parties including the main Opposition party, the BJP lent their support to the Bill. Earlier, on April 12, when the resolution for the revival of the Council was adopted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, all other parties except the ADMK and the Left parties supported it. The opposition of the CPM and CPI to the move is understandable because it is based on their principle, which of course is flawed. But the opposition of the ADMK is not on any principle but ignoble and contemptible. Late MGR during his rule in 1984 abolished the Council for a petty reason and in his animosity for Kalaignar. Earlier, claiming ‘sky-high powers’ the then Speaker of the Assembly P.H.Pandian disqualified from the membership of the House, 12 DMK MLAs including Kalaignar and Prof. K.Anbazhagan purportedly for burning the Constitution of India, while actually they had set bonfire to copies of a section on official languages during the Anti-Hindi agitation in 1985. Then Kalaignar was elected to the Council and served as the Leader of the Opposition. In the last meeting of the Council on May 13, 1986, Kalaignar made a dispassionate appeal to give up the move for abolition of the House if it was aimed at getting rid of him and offered to resign his membership to save the House from being disbanded.
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Council had a chequered history.
Madras Legislative Council was the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the Madras Presidency and later its successor, the Madras State. The first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency was initially created as an advisory body in 1861, by the British colonial government. It was established by the first Indian Council Act of 1861, enacted in the British parliament in the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Its role and strength were later expanded by the second Council Act of 1892. Limited election was introduced in 1909. The Council became an unicameral legislative body in 1921 and eventually the upper chamber of a bicameral legislature in 1937. After India became independent in 1947, it continued to be the upper chamber of the legislature of Madras State. It was renamed as the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council when the state was renamed as Tamil Nadu in 1967. The Council was abolished on 1 November 1986.
The first Indian Councils Act of 1861 set up the Madras Legislative Council as an advisory body through which the colonial administration obtained advice and assistance. The Act empowered the provincial Governor to nominate four non-English Indian members to the council for the first time. Under the Act, the nominated members were allowed to move their own bills and vote on bills introduced in the council. However, they were not allowed to question the executive, move resolutions or examine the budget. Also they could not interfere with the laws passed by the Central Legislature. The Governor was also the president of the Council and he had complete authority over when, where and how long to convene the Council and what to discuss. Two members of his Executive Council and the Advocate-General of Madras were also allowed to participate and vote in the Council. The Indians nominated under this Act were mostly zamindars and ryotwari landowners, who often benefited from their association with the colonial government. Supportive members were often re-nominated for several terms. G. N. Ganapathy Rao was nominated eight times, Humayun Jah Bahadur was a member for 23 years, T. Rama Rao and P.Chenchal Rao were members for six years each. Other prominent members during the period included V. Bhashyam Aiyangar, S.Subramania Iyer and C.Sankaran Nair. The Council met infrequently and in some years (1874 and 1892) was not convened even once. The maximum of number of times it met in a year was eighteen. The Governor preferred to convene the Council at his summer retreat Udagamandalam, much to the displeasure of the Indian members. The few times when the Council met, it was for only a few hours with bills and resolutions being rushed through.
In 1892, the role of the Council was expanded by the Indian Councils Act of 1892. The Act increased the number of additional members of the Council to a maximum of 20, of whom not more than nine had to be officials. The Act introduced the method of election for the Council, but did not mention word “election” explicitly. The elected members were officially called as “nominated” members and their method of election was described as “recommendation”. Such “recommendations” were made by district boards, universities, municipalities and other associations. The term of the members was fixed at two years. The Council could also discuss the annual financial statement and ask questions subject to certain limitations. Thirty eight Indian members were “nominated” in the eight elections during 1893-1909 when this Act was in effect. C. Jambulingam Mudaliar, N. Subba Rao Pantulu, P. Kesava Pillai and C. Vijayaraghavachariar representing southern group of district boards, Kruthiventi Perraju Pantulu of the northern group of municipalities, C. Sankaran Nair and P.Rangiah Naidu from the Corporation of Madras and P. S. Sivaswami Iyer, V.Krishnaswamy Iyer and M. Krishnan Nair from the University of Madras were some of the active members. However, over a period of time, representation by Indian members dwindled, for example, the position of Bashyam Iyengar and Sankaran Nair in 1902 was occupied by Acworth and Sir Geoge Moore. The council did not meet more than 9 days in a year during the time the Act was in effect.
The Government of India Act of 1909 (popularly called as “Minto-Morley Reforms”), officially introduced the method of electing members to the Council. But it did not provide for direct election of the members. It abolished automatic official (executive) majorities in the Council and gave its members the power to move resolutions upon matters of general public interest and the budget and also to ask supplementary questions. There were a total of 21 elected members and 21 nominated members.
The Act allowed up to 16 nominated members to be official and the remaining five were required to be non-officials. The Governor was also authorised to nominate two experts whenever necessary. As before, the Governor, his two executive council members and the Advocate-General were also members of the Council. P. Kesava Pillai, A. S. Krishna Rao, N. Krishnaswami Iyengar, Bayya Narasimheswara Sharma, B. V. Narasimha Iyer, K. Perraju Pantulu, T. V. Seshagiri Iyer, P. Siva Rao, V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, P. Theagaraya Chetty and Yakub Hasan Sait were among the active members.
Based on the recommendations of the Montague-Chelmsford report, the Government of India Act of 1919 was enacted. The Act enlarged the provincial legislative councils and increased the strength of elected members to be greater than that of nominated and official members. It introduced a system of dyarchy in the Provinces.
Although this Act brought about representative Government in India, the Governor was empowered with overriding powers. It classified the subjects as belonging to either the Centre or the Provinces. The Governor General could override any law passed by the Provincial councils. It brought about the concept of “Partial Responsible Government” in the provinces.
Provincial subjects were divided into two categories - reserved and transferred. Education, Sanitation, Local self government, Agriculture and Industries were listed as the transferred subjects. Law, Finance, Revenue and Home affairs were the reserved subjects. The provincial council could decide the budget in so far it related to the transferred subjects. Executive machinery dealing with those subjects was placed under the direct control of provincial legislature. However, the provincial legislature and the ministers did not have any control over the reserved subjects, which came under the Governor and his Executive council.
The Council had a total of 127 members in addition to the ex - officio members of the Governor’s Executive Council. Out of the 127, 98 were elected from 61 constituencies of the presidency. The constituencies comprised three arbitrary divisions - 1) communal constituencies such as non-Muhammadan urban, non-Muhammadan rural, non-Brahman urban, Mohamaddan urban, Mohamaddan rural, Indian Christian, European and Anglo-Indian 2)special constituencies such as landholders, Universities, planters and trade associations (South India Chamber of Commerce & Nattukottai Nagarathar Association) and 3) territorial constituencies. 28 of the constituencies were reserved for non-Brahmans. 29 members were nominated, out of whom a maximum of 19 would be government officials, 5 would represent the Paraiyar, Pallar, Valluvar, Mala, Madiga, Sakkiliar, Thottiyar, Cheruman and Holeya communities and 1 would represent the “backward tracts”. Including the Executive Council members, the total strength of the legislature was 134.
The first election for the Madras Legislative Council, under this Act was held in November 1920. The first sitting of the Council was inaugurated by the Duke of Connaught on 12 January 1921. In total, five such councils were constituted (in 1920, 23, 26, 30 and 34). The term of the councils was three years (except for the fourth council which was extended for a year in expectation of abolition of dyarchy ). While the first, second and fourth Councils were controlled by Justice Party majorities, the third Council was characterised by a fractured verdict and an independent ministry. The fifth council also saw a fractured verdict and a minority Justice government.
The Government of India Act of 1935 abolished dyarchy and ensured provincial autonomy. It created a bicameral legislature in the Madras province. The Legislature consisted of the Governor and two Legislative bodies - a Legislative Assembly and a Legislative Council. The Assembly consisted of 215 members, who were further classified into general members and reserved members representing special communities and interests. The Council consisted of a minimum of 54 and a maximum of 56 members. It was a permanent body not subject to dissolution by the Governor and one-third of its members retired every three years. 46 of its members were elected directly by the electorate while the Governor could nominate 8 to 10 members. Similar to the council, the electable members were further classified into general and reserved members. Specific number of seats were reserved (allocated) to various religious and ethnic groups. The Act provided for a limited adult franchise based on property qualifications. Seven million people, roughly 15% of the Madras people holding land or paying urban taxes were qualified to be the electorate. Under this Act, two councils were constituted - the first in 1937 and the second in 1946. Both Councils were controlled by Congress majorities.
After India became independent in 1947 and the Indian Constitution was adopted in 1950, the Legislative Council continued to be the upper chamber of the legislature of the Madras State - the successor to Madras Presidency. It continued to be called as the “Madras Legislative Council”. The Council was a permanent body and was not subject to dissolution. The length of a member’s term was six years and one third of the members retired every two years. The strength of the Council was not less than 40 or more than one third of the strength of the Assembly. The following table illustrates how the members of Council were selected:
One-sixth (1/6th) Nominated by the Governor on the advice of the cabinet. They were supposed to have excelled in fields like arts, science, literature, cooperative movement or social service
One-third (1/3rd) Elected by the members of the Legislative Assembly by proportional representation using the Single Transferable Vote System
One-third (1/3rd) Elected by the members of local self governmental bodies like corporations, municipalities and district boards.
One-twelfth (1/12th) Elected by an electorate consisting of electors who have held Graduate
degrees for a minimum of three years
One-twelfth (1/12th) Elected by an electorate consisting of teachers of secondary schools, colleges and universities with a minimum experience of three years
The actual strength of the council varied from time to time. During 1952-53, it had a strength of 72. After the formation of Andhra state on 1 October 1953, its strength came down to 51. In 1956 it decreased to 50 and the next year increased again to 63 - where it remained till the council’s abolition. Of those 63, local bodies and the Assembly elected 21 each, the teachers and graduates elected 6 each and the remaining 9 were nominated. The Council could not pass legislation on its own - it had to approve or disapprove the laws passed by the Assembly. In case of conflict between the Council and the Assembly, the will of the later would prevail. When Madras state was renamed as Tamil Nadu in 1967, the name of the council also changed to “Tamil Nadu Legislative Council”.
The legislative council was abolished in 1986 by the ADMK government of MGR. He had nominated a Tamil film actress, “Vennira Aaadai” Nirmala (aka A. B. Shanthi) to the Council. Her swearing in ceremony was scheduled for 23 April 1986. Nirmala had earlier declared insolvency and according to Article 102-(1)(c) of the Indian Constitution, an insolvent person can not serve as a member of parliament or state legislature. On 21 April, a lawyer named S. K. Sundaram, filed a public interest writ petition in the Madras High Court challenging Nirmala’s nomination to the Council. MGR loaned Nirmala a sum of Rupees 4,65,000 from ADMK’s party funds to pay off her creditors, so that her insolvency declaration could be annulled. The same day, Nirmala’s lawyer Subramaniam Pichai, was able to persuade judge Ramalingam to set aside her insolvency. He used a provision in the Section 31 of The Presidency Towns Insolvency Act of 1909, which allowed a judge to annul an insolvency retrospectively if all debts had been paid in full. This annulment made Nirmala’s nomination valid and the writ petition against it was dismissed. However, Nirmala withdrew her nomination to the council. The Governor of Tamil Nadu, Sundar Lal Khurana asked MGR to explain how Nirmala’s nomination was proposed without proper vetting. Miffed with this incident, MGR decided to abolish the council.
On 14 May, a resolution seeking to abolish the council was moved successfully in the Legislative Assembly. The Tamil Nadu Legislative Council (Abolition) Bill, 1986 was passed by both houses of the Parliament and received the assent of the President on 30 August 1986. The Act came into force on 1 November 1986 and the council was abolished.
Revival of the Legislative Council was one of the promises included in the election manifesto of DMK in the 2006 Assembly elections. The DMK won the election and Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi became Chief Minister. In his inaugural address to the 13th Legislative Assembly delivered on 24 May 2006, Governor Thiru Surjit Singh Barnala said steps will be taken to move the necessary Constitutional amendments for reviving the council. On 12 April 2010, the Legislative Assembly passed a resolution seeking to revive the Council. The DMK’s earlier attempts to revive the council, when it was in power during 1989-91 and 1996-2001 were not successful, as it did not possess both the two-thirds majority in the Legislative Assembly and a friendly union government necessary for it to be done. On both occasions, the ADMK governments that followed the DMK governments passed counter resolutions to rescind them (in October 1991 and July 2001 respectively).
During its existence as the upper chamber of Tamil Nadu Legislature, the Council has been used twice to appoint non members of the legislatures as Chief Minister. The first time this happened was in 1952, when C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) was nominated by Governor Sri Prakasa to the Council so that Rajaji could become Chief Minister. The second time was in 1967 when Arignar Anna became the Chief Minister first and then got himself elected to the Council.
During 1861-1937, the presiding officer of the Madras Legislative Council was known as the “President of the Council”. From its establishment in 1861 till dyarchy was introduced in 1921, the Governor of Madras was also the President of the Council. After dyarchy introduced, the first and second council presidents, Perungavalur Rajagopalachari and L. D. Swamikannu Pillai, were appointed by the Governor himself. The presidents who came after them were chosen by the Council itself. During 1937-86, the presiding officer was called as the “Chairman of the Council”. Till 1919 the presiding officers of the council were Britishers and thereafter Sir P.Rajagopalachari, L.D.Swamikannu Pillai, M.Ruthnaswami, C.V.S.Narasimha Raju, B.Ramachandra Reddi, U.Rama Rao, B.R.Ramakrishna Raju, P.V.Cherian, M.A.Manickavelu Naicker, C.P.Citrarasu and M.P.Sivagnanam served as chairmen.
In 1920, the South Indian Liberal Front, popularly known as the Justice Party was elected to power and it ruled for 17 years till 1937, during which many wonderful legislations were made. Subbarayalu Reddy was elected as the first Premier, Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy brought a revolutionary resolution for the abolition of the cursed ‘Devadasi’ system and had a harsh argument with Congress leader Satyamurthy Iyer, who later served as a member of the Constituent Assembly. When Muthaiah Mudaliar was the Premier, the Communal GO providing reservation for SCs, STs, Backward Classes and minorities in education and government jobs was passed for the first time in the country which after Independence culminated in the first amendment to the Constitution paving way for reservation as a result of the agitation organized by Thanthai Periyar and Arignar Anna supported by Perunthalaivar Kamarajar.
Many eminent persons had served as members of the Legislative Council, which included the first Governor General of Independent India Rajaji, Justice Party leaders Dr. C. Natesan, Sir Pitti Thyagarayar, Dr. T.M.Nair and P.T.Rajan, O.P.Ramasamy Reddiar, M.Bakthavatsalam Mudaliar, Arignar Anna, Kalaignar, S.P.Aditanar, MGR, former President R.Venkataraman, first Union Finance Minister R.K.Shanmugam Chettiar, Dr. S.Muthulakshmi Reddy, Dr. A.L.Mudaliar who served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Madras continuously for 27 years, Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar, Raja Sir Muthiah Chettiar, Great Dalit leaders M.C.Raja and Erattaimalai Srinivasan and Sir A.T.Panneerselvam.
The Council will be truly democratic and augment the involvement and participation of various sections of the society in the process of legislation and governance. Of the 78 members 12 will be nominated by the Governor from eminent scholars, academics, industrialists, business people, artists, lawyers et al., 26 will be elected from the local bodies, which are institutions of grass-root level governance. Thus representatives of local bodies will directly take part in the council. Graduates and teachers will elect 7 members each and the Legislative Assembly will elect 26 members.
The revival of the historic Tamil Nadu Legislative Council is another fulfillment of the DMK’s promise in its Election Manifesto for the 2006 Assembly election Kalaignar has at last established democratic justice in legislature and administration and during his compassionate rule many more progressive measures and legislations will successfully
unfold.
(16-05-10)
It is heartening to note that except the ADMK and Left parties all other parties including the main Opposition party, the BJP lent their support to the Bill. Earlier, on April 12, when the resolution for the revival of the Council was adopted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, all other parties except the ADMK and the Left parties supported it. The opposition of the CPM and CPI to the move is understandable because it is based on their principle, which of course is flawed. But the opposition of the ADMK is not on any principle but ignoble and contemptible. Late MGR during his rule in 1984 abolished the Council for a petty reason and in his animosity for Kalaignar. Earlier, claiming ‘sky-high powers’ the then Speaker of the Assembly P.H.Pandian disqualified from the membership of the House, 12 DMK MLAs including Kalaignar and Prof. K.Anbazhagan purportedly for burning the Constitution of India, while actually they had set bonfire to copies of a section on official languages during the Anti-Hindi agitation in 1985. Then Kalaignar was elected to the Council and served as the Leader of the Opposition. In the last meeting of the Council on May 13, 1986, Kalaignar made a dispassionate appeal to give up the move for abolition of the House if it was aimed at getting rid of him and offered to resign his membership to save the House from being disbanded.
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Council had a chequered history.
Madras Legislative Council was the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the Madras Presidency and later its successor, the Madras State. The first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency was initially created as an advisory body in 1861, by the British colonial government. It was established by the first Indian Council Act of 1861, enacted in the British parliament in the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Its role and strength were later expanded by the second Council Act of 1892. Limited election was introduced in 1909. The Council became an unicameral legislative body in 1921 and eventually the upper chamber of a bicameral legislature in 1937. After India became independent in 1947, it continued to be the upper chamber of the legislature of Madras State. It was renamed as the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council when the state was renamed as Tamil Nadu in 1967. The Council was abolished on 1 November 1986.
The first Indian Councils Act of 1861 set up the Madras Legislative Council as an advisory body through which the colonial administration obtained advice and assistance. The Act empowered the provincial Governor to nominate four non-English Indian members to the council for the first time. Under the Act, the nominated members were allowed to move their own bills and vote on bills introduced in the council. However, they were not allowed to question the executive, move resolutions or examine the budget. Also they could not interfere with the laws passed by the Central Legislature. The Governor was also the president of the Council and he had complete authority over when, where and how long to convene the Council and what to discuss. Two members of his Executive Council and the Advocate-General of Madras were also allowed to participate and vote in the Council. The Indians nominated under this Act were mostly zamindars and ryotwari landowners, who often benefited from their association with the colonial government. Supportive members were often re-nominated for several terms. G. N. Ganapathy Rao was nominated eight times, Humayun Jah Bahadur was a member for 23 years, T. Rama Rao and P.Chenchal Rao were members for six years each. Other prominent members during the period included V. Bhashyam Aiyangar, S.Subramania Iyer and C.Sankaran Nair. The Council met infrequently and in some years (1874 and 1892) was not convened even once. The maximum of number of times it met in a year was eighteen. The Governor preferred to convene the Council at his summer retreat Udagamandalam, much to the displeasure of the Indian members. The few times when the Council met, it was for only a few hours with bills and resolutions being rushed through.
In 1892, the role of the Council was expanded by the Indian Councils Act of 1892. The Act increased the number of additional members of the Council to a maximum of 20, of whom not more than nine had to be officials. The Act introduced the method of election for the Council, but did not mention word “election” explicitly. The elected members were officially called as “nominated” members and their method of election was described as “recommendation”. Such “recommendations” were made by district boards, universities, municipalities and other associations. The term of the members was fixed at two years. The Council could also discuss the annual financial statement and ask questions subject to certain limitations. Thirty eight Indian members were “nominated” in the eight elections during 1893-1909 when this Act was in effect. C. Jambulingam Mudaliar, N. Subba Rao Pantulu, P. Kesava Pillai and C. Vijayaraghavachariar representing southern group of district boards, Kruthiventi Perraju Pantulu of the northern group of municipalities, C. Sankaran Nair and P.Rangiah Naidu from the Corporation of Madras and P. S. Sivaswami Iyer, V.Krishnaswamy Iyer and M. Krishnan Nair from the University of Madras were some of the active members. However, over a period of time, representation by Indian members dwindled, for example, the position of Bashyam Iyengar and Sankaran Nair in 1902 was occupied by Acworth and Sir Geoge Moore. The council did not meet more than 9 days in a year during the time the Act was in effect.
The Government of India Act of 1909 (popularly called as “Minto-Morley Reforms”), officially introduced the method of electing members to the Council. But it did not provide for direct election of the members. It abolished automatic official (executive) majorities in the Council and gave its members the power to move resolutions upon matters of general public interest and the budget and also to ask supplementary questions. There were a total of 21 elected members and 21 nominated members.
The Act allowed up to 16 nominated members to be official and the remaining five were required to be non-officials. The Governor was also authorised to nominate two experts whenever necessary. As before, the Governor, his two executive council members and the Advocate-General were also members of the Council. P. Kesava Pillai, A. S. Krishna Rao, N. Krishnaswami Iyengar, Bayya Narasimheswara Sharma, B. V. Narasimha Iyer, K. Perraju Pantulu, T. V. Seshagiri Iyer, P. Siva Rao, V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, P. Theagaraya Chetty and Yakub Hasan Sait were among the active members.
Based on the recommendations of the Montague-Chelmsford report, the Government of India Act of 1919 was enacted. The Act enlarged the provincial legislative councils and increased the strength of elected members to be greater than that of nominated and official members. It introduced a system of dyarchy in the Provinces.
Although this Act brought about representative Government in India, the Governor was empowered with overriding powers. It classified the subjects as belonging to either the Centre or the Provinces. The Governor General could override any law passed by the Provincial councils. It brought about the concept of “Partial Responsible Government” in the provinces.
Provincial subjects were divided into two categories - reserved and transferred. Education, Sanitation, Local self government, Agriculture and Industries were listed as the transferred subjects. Law, Finance, Revenue and Home affairs were the reserved subjects. The provincial council could decide the budget in so far it related to the transferred subjects. Executive machinery dealing with those subjects was placed under the direct control of provincial legislature. However, the provincial legislature and the ministers did not have any control over the reserved subjects, which came under the Governor and his Executive council.
The Council had a total of 127 members in addition to the ex - officio members of the Governor’s Executive Council. Out of the 127, 98 were elected from 61 constituencies of the presidency. The constituencies comprised three arbitrary divisions - 1) communal constituencies such as non-Muhammadan urban, non-Muhammadan rural, non-Brahman urban, Mohamaddan urban, Mohamaddan rural, Indian Christian, European and Anglo-Indian 2)special constituencies such as landholders, Universities, planters and trade associations (South India Chamber of Commerce & Nattukottai Nagarathar Association) and 3) territorial constituencies. 28 of the constituencies were reserved for non-Brahmans. 29 members were nominated, out of whom a maximum of 19 would be government officials, 5 would represent the Paraiyar, Pallar, Valluvar, Mala, Madiga, Sakkiliar, Thottiyar, Cheruman and Holeya communities and 1 would represent the “backward tracts”. Including the Executive Council members, the total strength of the legislature was 134.
The first election for the Madras Legislative Council, under this Act was held in November 1920. The first sitting of the Council was inaugurated by the Duke of Connaught on 12 January 1921. In total, five such councils were constituted (in 1920, 23, 26, 30 and 34). The term of the councils was three years (except for the fourth council which was extended for a year in expectation of abolition of dyarchy ). While the first, second and fourth Councils were controlled by Justice Party majorities, the third Council was characterised by a fractured verdict and an independent ministry. The fifth council also saw a fractured verdict and a minority Justice government.
The Government of India Act of 1935 abolished dyarchy and ensured provincial autonomy. It created a bicameral legislature in the Madras province. The Legislature consisted of the Governor and two Legislative bodies - a Legislative Assembly and a Legislative Council. The Assembly consisted of 215 members, who were further classified into general members and reserved members representing special communities and interests. The Council consisted of a minimum of 54 and a maximum of 56 members. It was a permanent body not subject to dissolution by the Governor and one-third of its members retired every three years. 46 of its members were elected directly by the electorate while the Governor could nominate 8 to 10 members. Similar to the council, the electable members were further classified into general and reserved members. Specific number of seats were reserved (allocated) to various religious and ethnic groups. The Act provided for a limited adult franchise based on property qualifications. Seven million people, roughly 15% of the Madras people holding land or paying urban taxes were qualified to be the electorate. Under this Act, two councils were constituted - the first in 1937 and the second in 1946. Both Councils were controlled by Congress majorities.
After India became independent in 1947 and the Indian Constitution was adopted in 1950, the Legislative Council continued to be the upper chamber of the legislature of the Madras State - the successor to Madras Presidency. It continued to be called as the “Madras Legislative Council”. The Council was a permanent body and was not subject to dissolution. The length of a member’s term was six years and one third of the members retired every two years. The strength of the Council was not less than 40 or more than one third of the strength of the Assembly. The following table illustrates how the members of Council were selected:
One-sixth (1/6th) Nominated by the Governor on the advice of the cabinet. They were supposed to have excelled in fields like arts, science, literature, cooperative movement or social service
One-third (1/3rd) Elected by the members of the Legislative Assembly by proportional representation using the Single Transferable Vote System
One-third (1/3rd) Elected by the members of local self governmental bodies like corporations, municipalities and district boards.
One-twelfth (1/12th) Elected by an electorate consisting of electors who have held Graduate
degrees for a minimum of three years
One-twelfth (1/12th) Elected by an electorate consisting of teachers of secondary schools, colleges and universities with a minimum experience of three years
The actual strength of the council varied from time to time. During 1952-53, it had a strength of 72. After the formation of Andhra state on 1 October 1953, its strength came down to 51. In 1956 it decreased to 50 and the next year increased again to 63 - where it remained till the council’s abolition. Of those 63, local bodies and the Assembly elected 21 each, the teachers and graduates elected 6 each and the remaining 9 were nominated. The Council could not pass legislation on its own - it had to approve or disapprove the laws passed by the Assembly. In case of conflict between the Council and the Assembly, the will of the later would prevail. When Madras state was renamed as Tamil Nadu in 1967, the name of the council also changed to “Tamil Nadu Legislative Council”.
The legislative council was abolished in 1986 by the ADMK government of MGR. He had nominated a Tamil film actress, “Vennira Aaadai” Nirmala (aka A. B. Shanthi) to the Council. Her swearing in ceremony was scheduled for 23 April 1986. Nirmala had earlier declared insolvency and according to Article 102-(1)(c) of the Indian Constitution, an insolvent person can not serve as a member of parliament or state legislature. On 21 April, a lawyer named S. K. Sundaram, filed a public interest writ petition in the Madras High Court challenging Nirmala’s nomination to the Council. MGR loaned Nirmala a sum of Rupees 4,65,000 from ADMK’s party funds to pay off her creditors, so that her insolvency declaration could be annulled. The same day, Nirmala’s lawyer Subramaniam Pichai, was able to persuade judge Ramalingam to set aside her insolvency. He used a provision in the Section 31 of The Presidency Towns Insolvency Act of 1909, which allowed a judge to annul an insolvency retrospectively if all debts had been paid in full. This annulment made Nirmala’s nomination valid and the writ petition against it was dismissed. However, Nirmala withdrew her nomination to the council. The Governor of Tamil Nadu, Sundar Lal Khurana asked MGR to explain how Nirmala’s nomination was proposed without proper vetting. Miffed with this incident, MGR decided to abolish the council.
On 14 May, a resolution seeking to abolish the council was moved successfully in the Legislative Assembly. The Tamil Nadu Legislative Council (Abolition) Bill, 1986 was passed by both houses of the Parliament and received the assent of the President on 30 August 1986. The Act came into force on 1 November 1986 and the council was abolished.
Revival of the Legislative Council was one of the promises included in the election manifesto of DMK in the 2006 Assembly elections. The DMK won the election and Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi became Chief Minister. In his inaugural address to the 13th Legislative Assembly delivered on 24 May 2006, Governor Thiru Surjit Singh Barnala said steps will be taken to move the necessary Constitutional amendments for reviving the council. On 12 April 2010, the Legislative Assembly passed a resolution seeking to revive the Council. The DMK’s earlier attempts to revive the council, when it was in power during 1989-91 and 1996-2001 were not successful, as it did not possess both the two-thirds majority in the Legislative Assembly and a friendly union government necessary for it to be done. On both occasions, the ADMK governments that followed the DMK governments passed counter resolutions to rescind them (in October 1991 and July 2001 respectively).
During its existence as the upper chamber of Tamil Nadu Legislature, the Council has been used twice to appoint non members of the legislatures as Chief Minister. The first time this happened was in 1952, when C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) was nominated by Governor Sri Prakasa to the Council so that Rajaji could become Chief Minister. The second time was in 1967 when Arignar Anna became the Chief Minister first and then got himself elected to the Council.
During 1861-1937, the presiding officer of the Madras Legislative Council was known as the “President of the Council”. From its establishment in 1861 till dyarchy was introduced in 1921, the Governor of Madras was also the President of the Council. After dyarchy introduced, the first and second council presidents, Perungavalur Rajagopalachari and L. D. Swamikannu Pillai, were appointed by the Governor himself. The presidents who came after them were chosen by the Council itself. During 1937-86, the presiding officer was called as the “Chairman of the Council”. Till 1919 the presiding officers of the council were Britishers and thereafter Sir P.Rajagopalachari, L.D.Swamikannu Pillai, M.Ruthnaswami, C.V.S.Narasimha Raju, B.Ramachandra Reddi, U.Rama Rao, B.R.Ramakrishna Raju, P.V.Cherian, M.A.Manickavelu Naicker, C.P.Citrarasu and M.P.Sivagnanam served as chairmen.
In 1920, the South Indian Liberal Front, popularly known as the Justice Party was elected to power and it ruled for 17 years till 1937, during which many wonderful legislations were made. Subbarayalu Reddy was elected as the first Premier, Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy brought a revolutionary resolution for the abolition of the cursed ‘Devadasi’ system and had a harsh argument with Congress leader Satyamurthy Iyer, who later served as a member of the Constituent Assembly. When Muthaiah Mudaliar was the Premier, the Communal GO providing reservation for SCs, STs, Backward Classes and minorities in education and government jobs was passed for the first time in the country which after Independence culminated in the first amendment to the Constitution paving way for reservation as a result of the agitation organized by Thanthai Periyar and Arignar Anna supported by Perunthalaivar Kamarajar.
Many eminent persons had served as members of the Legislative Council, which included the first Governor General of Independent India Rajaji, Justice Party leaders Dr. C. Natesan, Sir Pitti Thyagarayar, Dr. T.M.Nair and P.T.Rajan, O.P.Ramasamy Reddiar, M.Bakthavatsalam Mudaliar, Arignar Anna, Kalaignar, S.P.Aditanar, MGR, former President R.Venkataraman, first Union Finance Minister R.K.Shanmugam Chettiar, Dr. S.Muthulakshmi Reddy, Dr. A.L.Mudaliar who served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Madras continuously for 27 years, Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar, Raja Sir Muthiah Chettiar, Great Dalit leaders M.C.Raja and Erattaimalai Srinivasan and Sir A.T.Panneerselvam.
The Council will be truly democratic and augment the involvement and participation of various sections of the society in the process of legislation and governance. Of the 78 members 12 will be nominated by the Governor from eminent scholars, academics, industrialists, business people, artists, lawyers et al., 26 will be elected from the local bodies, which are institutions of grass-root level governance. Thus representatives of local bodies will directly take part in the council. Graduates and teachers will elect 7 members each and the Legislative Assembly will elect 26 members.
The revival of the historic Tamil Nadu Legislative Council is another fulfillment of the DMK’s promise in its Election Manifesto for the 2006 Assembly election Kalaignar has at last established democratic justice in legislature and administration and during his compassionate rule many more progressive measures and legislations will successfully
unfold.
(16-05-10)
No comments:
Post a Comment