In a letter to the Assembly Speaker, Governor R. N. Ravi mentioned the proposed modification would function past the tenure of the current and into the tenure of the incoming authorities, successfully binding its fiscal coverage decisions in its very first 12 months of workplace. | Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO
Speaker M. Appavu learn out Mr. Ravi’s letter, dated August 25, 2025, which had listed the explanations for returning the Bill. The House readopted the Bill.
In a letter to the Speaker, Mr. Ravi mentioned, “The Bill seeks to postpone the achievement of zero income deficit and three% fiscal deficit by one other 12 months (now concentrating on 2026-27 and thirty first March 2026 respectively), going past the interval specified by the Fifteenth Finance Commission, which set targets for 2021-22 to 2025-26.”
‘Room for brand spanking new govt.’
He additional wrote, “The subsequent basic election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly is scheduled to be held in lower than a 12 months from now. The proposed modification will straight function past the tenure of the current and into the tenure of the incoming authorities, successfully binding its fiscal coverage decisions in its very first 12 months of workplace and likewise being past the really helpful interval of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. In a parliamentary democracy, it’s a well-recognised conference that main coverage choices by the use of statutory change, particularly within the sphere of long-term monetary coverage, are ordinarily prevented within the fast pre-election interval until there’s a compelling necessity. This is to make sure that the newly elected authorities has the autonomy to find out its personal fiscal framework by way of the contemporary mandate from the individuals.”
The Governor mentioned, “The unique targets beneath the Tamil Nadu Fiscal Responsibility Act had been enacted in alignment with the nationwide framework for fiscal self-discipline beneath the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003, and successive Finance Commission suggestions.” But the modification proposed successfully altered the roadmap agreed with the Commission. “This can threaten long-term fiscal sustainability and compliance with the targets outlined by constitutional our bodies just like the Finance Commission and probably undermine the credibility of the State’s monetary administration,” he mentioned.
“Fiscal accountability legal guidelines are supposed to be binding, and exceptions are normally made solely in extraordinary conditions (pure disasters, extreme financial crises, and so forth.) by the elected authorities. Such repeated extensions would dilute statutory commitments to fiscal self-discipline, suspending the targets particularly past the Fifteenth Finance Commission interval and past the time period of the current authorities,” Mr. Ravi mentioned.
Thennarasu’s take
Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu, nevertheless, mentioned Tamil Nadu was a pioneer in guaranteeing {that a} legislation was handed to make sure fiscal accountability. “Even within the 12 months this Act was handed, we are able to see that coverage targets had been set past its time period. Successive governments have upheld fiscal accountability even whereas altering the developmental and financial targets. In the previous, amendments to the Tamil Nadu Fiscal Responsibility Act had been made earlier than the election 12 months,” he mentioned.
“Enacting laws is a steady course of. The laws that’s being enacted should keep in mind — regardless of the federal government — monetary state of affairs, continuation of coverage choices, and long-term social and financial targets. It doesn’t finish with one time period of a authorities,” he mentioned.
DMK MLA Ezhilan Naganthan, VCK MLA S.S. Balaji, CPI MLA T. Ramachandran, CPI(M) MLA Nagaimaali, and legislators T. Velmurugan, and E.R. Easwaran additionally criticised the Governor’s observations.
Published – October 17, 2025 11:26 pm IST
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