Former CJI P Sathasivam agrees to take over as Kerala governor

Thiruvananthapuram: Former Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam today accepted the governorship of Kerala after the move to appoint him sparked a debate in political and legal circles on the propriety of giving gubernatorial assignment to a person who retired from the highest judicial office in the country. Justifying his decision, Justice Sathasivam said that he saw no problem in accepting a constitutional post to serve the country, Times Now reported. According to Times Now, Responding to Sathasivam’s decision to accept the position, the Congress said that by doing so the former CJI had opened himself up to scrutiny. [caption id=“attachment_1464135” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file photo of former
Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam. AFP image[/caption] Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had said that the Centre had not sought his views on the proposal so far. “It has been a convention to consult the Chief Minister concerned before appointing the Governor… This practice has been followed during the appointment of previous governors during my tenure as chief minister. (In this case) So far, I have not been consulted. I expect that convention would be followed this time as well,” Chandy had told reporters in Kozhikode. Sudheeran said though there had been instances of retired judges being made Governors, the appointment of a former CJI could raise questions of propriety. He, however, added it was for constitutional experts to give an answer to this question, but there was nothing wrong in debating the issue. Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit had held the position of governor until her recent resignation. with inputs from PTI