List of governors of Tamil Nadu

The governor of Tamil Nadu is the head of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Governors in India have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the president of India at the central level. They exist in the state appointed by the president of India 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. The governor acts as the nominal head whereas the real power lies with the chief minister of the state and their council of ministers.

Governor of Tamil Nadu
Tamiḻnāṭu Āḷunar
Emblem of Tamil Nadu
Incumbent R. N. Ravi since 18 September 2021
Style	His Excellency
Status	Head of State
Reports to	President of India Government of India
Residence	Raj Bhavan, Chennai (primary) Raj Bhavan, Udhagamandalam (summer)
Appointer	President of India
Term length	At the pleasure of the president Renewable
Inaugural holder	Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji (Madras State) Ujjal Singh (Tamil Nadu)
Formation	7 September 1948; 76 years ago (1948-09-07) (as Madras State) 14 January 1969; 56 years ago (1969-01-14) (as Tamil Nadu)
Salary	₹350,000 (US$4,100) (per month)
Website	www.tnrajbhavan.gov.in

The state of Tamil Nadu in India has had 26 Governors since 1946

The current incumbent is R. N. Ravi, who has served since 18 September 2021.

Powers and functions

See also: Governors of India § 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.

List

Legend

• ^† Died in office
• ^§ Transferred
• ^‡ Resigned/removed

Color key

•    indicates acting/additional charge

Governors of Madras State (1948–1969)

#	Portrait	Name (born – died)	Home state	Tenure in office			Appointer (President)
				From	To	Time in office
1		Colonel Maharaja Raol Krishna Kumarsinhji Bhavsinhji KCSI (1912–1965)	Saurashtra	7 September 1948	12 March 1952	3 years, 187 days	C. Rajagopalachari (Governor-General)
2		Sri Prakasa (1890–1971)	Uttar Pradesh	12 March 1952	10 December 1956[§][α]	4 years, 273 days	Rajendra Prasad
3		A. J. John (1893–1957)	Kerala	10 December 1956	1 October 1957[†]	295 days
–		Justice P. V. Rajamannar (1901–1979) Chief Justice, Madras High Court (Acting)	Madras State	1 October 1957	24 January 1958	115 days
4		Bishnuram Medhi (1888–1981)	Assam	24 January 1958	4 May 1964	6 years, 101 days
5		Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar (1919–1974)	Mysore State	4 May 1964	24 November 1964	204 days	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
–		P. Chandra Reddy (1904–1976) Chief Justice, Madras High Court (Acting)	Andhra Pradesh	24 November 1964	7 December 1965	1 year, 13 days
(5)		Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar (1919–1974)	Mysore State	7 December 1965	28 June 1966	203 days
–		Ujjal Singh (1895–1983)	Punjab	28 June 1966	16 June 1967	2 years, 200 days
6				16 June 1967	14 January 1969		Zakir Husain

1. Transferred as the Governor of Bombay State

Governors of Tamil Nadu (1969–present)

#	Portrait	Name (born – died)	Home state	Tenure in office			Appointer (President)
				From	To	Time in office
1		Ujjal Singh (1895–1983)	Punjab	14 January 1969	25 May 1971	2 years, 131 days	Zakir Husain
2		Kodardas Kalidas Shah (1908–1986)	Gujarat	26 May 1971	15 June 1976	5 years, 20 days	V. V. Giri
3		Mohan Lal Sukhadia (1916–1982)	Rajasthan	16 June 1976	8 April 1977[‡]	296 days	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
–		Justice P. Govindan Nair Chief Justice, Madras High Court (Acting)	Kerala	9 April 1977	26 April 1977	17 days	B. D. Jatti
4		Prabhudas Patwari (1909–1985)	Gujarat	27 April 1977	26 October 1980[‡]	3 years, 182 days
–		Justice M. M. Ismail (1921–2005) Chief Justice, Madras High Court (Acting)	Tamil Nadu	27 October 1980	3 November 1980	7 days	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
5		Sadiq Ali (1910–2001)	Rajasthan	4 November 1980	2 September 1982	1 year, 302 days
6		Sundar Lal Khurana IAS (Retd) (1918–2007)	Delhi	3 September 1982	16 February 1988	5 years, 166 days	Zail Singh
7		P. C. Alexander IAS (Retd) (1921–2011)	Kerala	17 February 1988	23 May 1990[‡]	2 years, 95 days	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
8		Surjit Singh Barnala (1925–2017)	Punjab	24 May 1990	14 February 1991[‡]	266 days
9		Bhishma Narain Singh (1933–2018)	Bihar	15 February 1991	30 May 1993[‡]	2 years, 104 days
10		Marri Chenna Reddy (1919–1996)	Andhra Pradesh	31 May 1993	2 December 1996[†]	3 years, 185 days	Shankar Dayal Sharma
–		Krishan Kant (1927–2002) Governor of Andhra Pradesh (Additional Charge)	Punjab	2 December 1996	24 January 1997	53 days
11		Justice (Retd) M. Fathima Beevi (1927–2023)	Kerala	25 January 1997	3 July 2001[‡]	4 years, 159 days
–		C. Rangarajan (born 1932) Governor of Andhra Pradesh (Additional Charge)	Tamil Nadu	3 July 2001	17 January 2002	198 days	K. R. Narayanan
12		P. S. Ramamohan Rao IPS (Retd) (born 1934)	Andhra Pradesh	18 January 2002	2 November 2004[‡]	2 years, 289 days
(8)		Surjit Singh Barnala (1925–2017)	Punjab	3 November 2004	30 August 2011	6 years, 300 days	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
13		Konijeti Rosaiah (1933–2021)	Andhra Pradesh	31 August 2011	1 September 2016	5 years, 1 day	Pratibha Patil
–		C. Vidyasagar Rao (born 1941) Governor of Maharashtra (Additional Charge)	Telangana	2 September 2016	5 October 2017	1 year, 33 days	Pranab Mukherjee
14		Banwarilal Purohit (born 1940)	Maharashtra	6 October 2017	17 September 2021[§][α]	3 years, 346 days	Ram Nath Kovind
15		R. N. Ravi IPS (Retd) (born 1952)	Bihar	18 September 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 321 days

1. Transferred as the Governor of Punjab and Administrator of Chandigarh

Timeline

Governors of Madras State

Governors of Tamil Nadu

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
• History of Tamil Nadu
• List of chief ministers of Tamil Nadu
• List of colonial governors and presidents of Madras Presidency

Notes