V. S. Ramadevi (born 15 January, 1934) M.A, L.L.M, was the Chief Election Commissioner of India from November 26, 1990 to December 11, 1990. She was succeeded by T. N. Seshan.Later, she also served as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh from 26 July 1997 to 1 December 1999 and as the Governor of Karnataka from 02 December 1999 to 20 August 2002.
The first woman Governor of Karnataka, V.S. Rama Devi, demitted office this evening, convinced that the Constitution did not envisage governors to be anything more than figureheads. She left office having established the reputation of being accessible to the people, though, like some of her predecessors, she avoided formal press conferences.
In her first and also the last interaction with presspersons as Governor this afternoon, Ms. Rama Devi said she was throughout conscious of the fact that it was the elected representatives of the people who wielded and should wield power. In a philosophical vein, she said she did not attach much importance to the power of the Governor to appoint vice-chancellors or others.
Replying to questions, Ms. Rama Devi defended her action giving assent to the Karnataka State Universities Bill, 2000 which whittled down the powers of the Chancellor in the appointment of vice-chancellors, and the Karnataka Control of Organized Crime Bill, 2000. There was nothing unconstitutional about those two bills. It was in the context of the first Bill that she said she did not attach much importance to the power of appointment of vice-chancellors. "I don't know how my successors will feel about it." She agreed that it had been suggested to her to reserve the Universities Bill for Presidential assent. She could not do so as it did not impinge on any Central law. Ms. Rama Devi said the Bill provided for search committees to select vice-chancellors and it was a gratifying feature.
Ms. Rama Devi also spoke against incurring heavy expenditure on the security and trappings of office of governor. She defended having skipped the convocations of some of the universities.
About the Control of Organized Crime Bill, she said though it appeared to be harsh, there was nothing unconstitutional about it. Ms. Rama Devi added that she did not want governors to sit over bills passed by the Legislative Assembly. She did not derive any comfort from such delaying actions. It would only result in pressure on the Governor to give assent.
Ms. Rama Devi said she had no plans to write her memoirs as Governor of two States. She modestly said that in the first place she did not consider herself such an important person. She might write about her gubernatorial years in the form of fiction. She was fond of writing fiction.Praising Karnataka, she particularly noted that it was a high-technology society which, at the same time, respected traditions and culture.
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