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	Five years Renewable
Inaugural holder	Archibald Edward Nye (1946–1948)
Formation	6 May 1946; 77 years ago (1946-05-06)
Salary	₹350,000 (US$4,400) (per month)
Website	www.tnrajbhavan.gov.in

The governor of Tamil Nadu is the head of state 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 for a term of five years 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.

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

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.

Governors

Madras Presidency and Madras State

Headquartered in Fort St. George, Madras Presidency was a province of British India. It comprised present-day Tamil Nadu, the Malabar region of North Kerala, the coastal and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh, and the Bellary, Dakshina Kannada, and Udupi districts of Karnataka. It was established in 1653 to be the headquarters of the English settlements on the Coromandel Coast. After India's independence in 1947, Madras State, the precursor to the present day state of Tamil Nadu, was carved out of Madras Presidency. It comprised present-day Tamil Nadu and parts of present-day Karnataka and Kerala.^[1]

Tabular

Graphical

Tamil Nadu

Madras State was renamed as Tamil Nadu (Tamil for Tamil country) on 14 January 1969. Governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as that of the President of India at the Central government level. The Governor acts as the nominal head of the state while the Chief Ministers of the states and the Chief Minister's Council of Ministers are invested with most executive powers.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Home state	Term of office[4]			Previous post	Appointed by
				Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		Ujjal Singh (1895–1983)	Punjab	14 January 1969	25 May 1971	2 years, 131 days	Governor of Punjab	Zakir Hussain
2		K. K. Shah (1908–1986)	Gujarat	26 May 1971	15 June 1976	5 years, 20 days	–	Varahagiri Venkata Giri
3		Mohan Lal Sukhadia (1916–1982)	Rajasthan	16 June 1976	8 April 1977	296 days	Governor of United Andhra Pradesh	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
Acting		P. Govindan Nair (Unknown–Unknown)	Kerala	9 April 1977	26 April 1977	17 days	–	B. D. Jatti (Acting President)
4		Prabhudas B. Patwari (1909–1985)	Gujarat	27 April 1977	26 October 1980	3 years, 182 days	Indian Lawyer
Acting		M. M. Ismail (1921–2005)	Tamil Nadu	27 October 1980	3 November 1980	37 days	Chief Justice of Madras High Court	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
5		Sadiq Ali (1910–2001)	Rajasthan	4 November 1980	2 September 1982	1 year, 302 days	Governor of Maharashtra
6		S. L. Khurana (1918–2007)	National Capital Territory of Delhi	3 September 1982	16 February 1988	5 years, 166 days	Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry	Giani Zail Singh
7		P. C. Alexander (1921–2011)	Kerala	17 February 1988	23 May 1990	2 years, 95 days	I.A.S. Officer	R. Venkataraman
8		Surjit Singh Barnala (1925–2017)	Haryana	24 May 1990	14 February 1991	266 days	Chief Minister of Punjab
9		Bhishma Narain Singh (1933–2018)	Rajasthan	15 February 1991	30 May 1993	2 years, 104 days	Governor of Assam
10		M. Channa Reddy (1919–1996)	Andhra Pradesh	31 May 1993	2 December 1996[†]	3 years, 185 days	Governor of Rajasthan	Shanker Dayal Sharma
–		Krishan Kant (1927–2002)	Punjab	2 December 1996	24 January 1997	53 days	Governor of Andhra Pradesh
11		M. Fathima Beevi (1927–2023)	Kerala	25 January 1997	2 July 2001	4 years, 158 days	Judge of the Supreme Court of India
–		C. Rangarajan (1932-)	Tamil Nadu	3 July 2001	17 January 2002	198 days	Governor of the Reserve Bank of India	K. R. Narayanan
12		P. S. Ramamohan Rao (1934-)	Andhra Pradesh	18 January 2002	2 November 2004	2 years, 289 days	Director General of Andhra Pradesh Police	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
(8)		Surjit Singh Barnala (1925–2017)	Haryana	3 November 2004	30 August 2011	6 years, 300 days	Governor of Andhra Pradesh
13		Konijeti Rosaiah (1933–2021)	Andhra Pradesh	31 August 2011	1 September 2016	5 years, 1 day	Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh	Pratibha Devisingh Patil
–		C. Vidyasagar Rao (1942–)	Andhra Pradesh	2 September 2016	5 October 2017	1 year, 33 days	Governor of Maharashtra	Pranab Mukherjee
14		Banwarilal Purohit (1939–)	Rajasthan	6 October 2017	17 September 2021	3 years, 346 days	Governor of Assam	Ram Nath Kovind
15		R. N. Ravi (1952–)	Bihar	18 September 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 158 days	Governor of Nagaland

Graphical

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).