<P> She was embroiled in controversy when she gave a clean chit to the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu that prompted the ire of the Central government . The Minister for Law, Arun Jaitley asked for her resignation . Later she left her office as Governor of the state under controversial circumstances of her accepting of Jayalalithaa's of assembly majority after the elections and over the arrest of Karunanidhi, who pitched for her appointment four years ago . Jayalalitha defended the state Governor's decision to invite her to form the government . She said "She is a former supreme court judge . She herself is a legal expert . Nobody need teach her about law or the constitution . Her decision is not justiciable ." Jayalalitha's party had received the simple majority (131 seats out of total 234 seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly) after elections in May 2001. Fathima Beevi, the then Governor of Tamil Nadu administered the oath of office to J Jayalalitha as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 14 May 2001 in spite of the fact that Jayalalitha cannot contest the election and would not be able to get herself elected by the people to the assembly within six months as per the constitution . There were a few Public Interest Litigations (PIL) filed in the Supreme Court questioning the validity of her appointment as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu . Fathima Beevi justified her decision by saying that the majority party in the state assembly had elected Jayalalitha as their leader . </P> <P> Fathima Beevi submitted her resignation after the Union Cabinet decided to recommend to the President to recall the Governor for having failed to discharge her constitutional obligation . The Centre was peeved with Ms Fathima Beevi for not having furnished an independent and objective assessment of the sequence of events after the arrest of the former Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, and the two Union Ministers, Murasoli Maran and T.R. Baalu . The Centre had accused her of toeing the official line verbatim . The then Andhra Pradesh Governor, Dr C. Rangarajan, took charge as the acting Governor of Tamil Nadu, following her resignation . </P> <P> Subsequently, the Supreme Court of India overturned her appointment of Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu . Referring to the case, the Court Bench ruled that "The Governor cannot, in the exercise of his / her discretion or otherwise, do anything that is contrary to the Constitution and the laws . Therefore, the Governor, having due regard to the Constitution and the laws, must decline to exercise the discretion in appointing as Chief Minister a non-member who was not qualified to become a member of the legislature ." </P> <P> As the Governor of the state she had also served as the Chancellor of Madras University . It was reported by university sources that the Vice-Chancellor, P.T. Manoharan, had decided to quit his office in the wake of the Chancellor allegedly withholding her approval to the Syndicate's decision to establish a new department for contemporary Tamil literature . She had also served as the Chairman of Kerala Commission for Backward Classes (1993) and member of National Human Rights Commission (1993). She received Hon . D Litt and Mahila Shiromani Award in 1990 . She was also awarded Bharat Jyoti Award . </P>

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