Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Friday reinducted Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader K Ponmudy as a minister in the state Cabinet, reported The Hindu.

This came a day after the Supreme Court said that it was “seriously concerned” about the conduct of the governor and directed him to reinduct Ponmudy as a minister by Friday.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had passed its order in a plea filed by the Tamil Nadu government against Ravi’s refusal to appoint Ponmudy as a Cabinet minister after his conviction in a disproportionate assets case was stayed by the top court on March 11.

Attorney General R Venkataramani, representing Ravi, told court on Friday morning that MLA Ponmudy will be sworn in as a minister at 3.30 pm. “The governor wishes to convey [that] he had least intention to disregard the court,” Live Law quoted Venkataramani as saying.

Chandrachud had told Venkataramani on Thursday that the governor was “defying” the Supreme Court. “We did not want to say it out loud in court but you are now constraining us to say that aloud,” the chief justice added.

“How can the governor say that, after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction, his reinduction as a minister will be against constitutional morality,” Chandrachud said to the attorney general. “The governor has to be informed that when the Supreme Court stays a conviction, it stays a conviction.”

On March 11, the court stayed the conviction and prison sentence of Ponmudy and his wife, P Visalakshi, in a disproportionate assets case. The couple had been sentenced to three years in jail by the Madras High Court in December.

On account of the conviction, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader had been disqualified as an MLA and ceased to be a Cabinet minister.

On March 13, Ponmudy was reinstated as a legislator after authorities revoked a notification that declared his Tirukoyilur Assembly constituency vacant.

On Sunday, the governor wrote to Chief Minister MK Stalin saying that inducting Ponmudy would be against “constitutional morality”.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam state government and the governor have been at odds for more than a year.

The Tamil Nadu government had last year moved the Supreme Court against the governor for keeping multiple bills pending and not sanctioning the investigation and prosecution in several corruption cases.

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