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The governor of Tamil Nadu is the
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
of the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n state of
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
. The
governors
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the
president of India
The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...
at central level. They exist in the
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
appointed by the president of India for a term of five years and they are not local to the state that they are appointed to govern. The factors based on which the president evaluates the candidates is not mentioned in the
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
. The governor acts as the nominal head whereas the real power lies with the
chief minister of the state and their
council of ministers
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...
.
The
current incumbent is
R. N. Ravi
Ravindra Narayana Ravi (born 3 April 1951) is an ex-IPS(29RR), 1976 batch an Indian politician and former bureaucrat serving as the current and 15th Governor of Tamil Nadu.
Ravi served as the 18th Governor of Nagaland from 1 August 2019 to 9 ...
since 18 September 2021.
Powers and functions
The governor enjoys many different types of powers:
*Executive powers related to administration, appointments and removals,
*Legislative powers related to lawmaking and the state legislature, that is Vidhan Sabha or Vidhan Parishad, and
*Discretionary powers to be carried out according to the discretion of the Governor.
Governors
Madras Presidency and Madras State
Headquartered in
Fort St. George
Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further ...
,
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
was a province of
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
. It comprised present-day Tamil Nadu, the
Malabar region
The Malabar Coast is the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing m ...
of North
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, the
coastal
The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...
and
Rayalaseema regions of
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
, and the
Bellary
Bellary, officially Ballari, in the eponymous Bellary district, is a city in the state of Karnataka, India.
History
Bellary was a part of Rayalaseema (Ceded Districts) which was part of Madras Presidency till 1 November 1956.
The Ball ...
,
Dakshina Kannada
Dakshina Kannada district is a district of Karnataka state in India, with its headquarters in the coastal city of Mangalore. It is part of the larger Tulu Nadu region. The district covers an area nestled in between the Western Ghats to its east ...
, and
Udupi
Udupi (alternate spelling Udipi; also known as Odipu) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Udupi is situated about north of the educational, commercial and industrial hub of Mangalore and about west of state capital Bangalore by road.
...
districts of
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
. It was established in 1653 to be the headquarters of the English settlements on the
Coromandel Coast
The Coromandel Coast is the southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent, bounded by the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west, extending over an ...
. After India's
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
in 1947,
Madras State
Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and c ...
, the precursor to the present day state of Tamil Nadu, was carved out of Madras Presidency. It comprised present-day Tamil Nadu and parts of present-day Karnataka and Kerala.
[Tamil Nadu Secretariat — Brief History](_blank)
(Government of Tamil Nadu
Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, lik ...
, 17 September 2008)
Tabular
Graphical
ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12
PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20
AlignBars = late
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1946 till:1972
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1946
Colors =
id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97)
id:PA value:blue legend: Appointed
id:GP value:red legend: Acting
Legend = columns:2 left:150 top:24 columnwidth:100
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BarData =
barset:TNG
PlotData=
width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till
barset:TNG
from:1946 till:1948 color:PA text:" Sir Archibald Edward Nye (1946 – 1948)"
from:1948 till:1952 color:PA text:"Maharaja Krishna Kumarasingh Bhavasingh
Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great Monarch, king" or "high king".
A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Em ...
(1948 – 1952)"
from:1952 till:1956 color:PA text:" Sri Prakasa (1952 – 1956)"
from:1956 till:1958 color:PA text:" A. J. John, Anaparambil (1956 – 1958)"
from:1958 till:1958 color:GP text:" Dr. Pakala Venkata Rajamannar (1958 – 1958)"
from:1958 till:1964 color:PA text:" Bhishnuram Medhi (1958 – 1964)"
from:1964 till:1964 color:PA text:" Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wodeyar Bahadur of Mysore (1964 – 1964)"
from:1964 till:1965 color:GP text:"P. Chandra Reddy
Justice P. Chandra Reddy or Palagani Chandra Reddy (1 July 1904 – 7 October 1976) was an Indian judge. He was educated at V.R. High School, Nellore and Pachaiyappa’s College in Madras. He was appointed an advocate at the Madras High Cour ...
(1964 – 1965)"
from:1965 till:1966 color:PA text:" Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wodeyar Bahadur of Mysore (1965 – 1966)"
from:1966 till:1969 color:PA text:"Sardar Ujjal Singh
Sardar Ujjal Singh (27 December 1895 – 15 February 1983) was an Indian politician who served as the Governor of Punjab (India) (1 September 1965 – 26 June 1966), followed by acting Governor of Tamil Nadu (28 June 1966 - 16 June 1967). Pr ...
(1966 – 1969)"
Tamil Nadu
Madras State was renamed as Tamil Nadu (
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
for ''Tamil country'') on 14 January 1969. Governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as that of the President of India at the Central government level. The Governor acts as the nominal head of the state while the
Chief Ministers of the states and the Chief Minister's Council of Ministers are invested with most executive powers.
;Graphical
Records
* Surjit Singh Barnala is the only appointed Governor to have served two terms in office (24 May 1990–15 February 1991 and 3 November 2004–31 August 2011).
* The longest term in office was that of Surjit Singh Barnala who served as the Governor for a period of almost six and a half years (3 November 2004–31 August 2011).
* The shortest term in office was that of M. M. Ismail who served as the acting Governor for a period of nine days (27 October 1980–4 November 1980).
* The longest term in office as additional in-charge was that of C. Vidyasagar Rao for a period of 1 year 1 month and 4 days (2 September 2016– 6 October 2017).
See also
*
Governors of India
The governors of the states of India have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the president of India at the central level. Governors exist in the states, while lieutenant governors exist in union territories includi ...
*
*
History of Tamil Nadu
The region of Tamil Nadu in the southeast of modern India, shows evidence of having had continuous human habitation from 15,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE. Throughout its history, spanning the early Upper Paleolithic age to modern times, this regio ...
*
List of Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu
The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with th ...
*
List of colonial governors and presidents of Madras Presidency
This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947.
English Agents
In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized be ...
Notes
References
External links
Official website of the Governor of Tamil Nadu
{{Governors of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
Governors
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...