New Governors are appointed

New Governors are appointed

Subject: Polity

Sec: Constitution     

Context:

President Droupadi Murmu has appointed new governors for six states and shifted incumbents in three states.

Constitutional Provisions Related to Governor of State

• Articles 153-167 in Part VI of the Indian Constitution deal with the State Executive. They also contain some key provisions related to the Governor of State.
• The constitutional provisions mentioned under these articles deal with matters related to the appointment, qualifications, powers, functions, and other aspects related to the office of the Governor of State.
• Article 153: There shall be a Governor for each State and the same person can be the Governor for two/more States.
  • The second part was added by the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act 1956.
• Article 155: Governor of a State shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.
• Article 156:
  • The Governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the President, but his normal term of office will be five years.
  • The Governor may, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office.

Appointment of Governor of State

• The Governor of State is appointed by the President of India by warrant under his hand and seal.
  • Thus, the Governor is neither directly elected by the people nor indirectly elected by a specially constituted electoral college as is the case with the President of India.

• Being appointed by the Center, the Governor of State acts as a nominee of the Central Government.

Qualifications of Governor of State

The Indian Constitution lays down only two qualifications for the appointment of a person as the Governor of State:

• He should be a citizen of India, and
• He should have completed the age of 35 years.

Functioning of the Governor’s Office over the Years

• Because the President acts with the aid and assistance of the Prime Minister and the Union Council of Ministers, the Governor is appointed and removed by the central government.
• The Governor enjoys certain discretionary powers under the Constitution (Article 163), such as giving or withholding assent to a Bill passed by the state legislature, etc.
  • These discretionary powers have resulted in friction with the state government.
• As a result, Governors have been seen as acting on the behest of the central government/ as an agent of the Centre, especially by those in opposition.

Reforming the Office of the Governor

• The Supreme Court has time and again (in Shamsher Singh, SR Bommai, Nabam Rebia cases) reiterated that the office of the Governor should be independent on account of its high constitutional importance.
  • Recently, the courts have also held that constitutional morality requires high functionaries to sort out their differences and behave responsibly to better serve the citizens.
  • This would require clearly laying down the norms.
• The perception of bias in the appointment of the Governor could be addressed by appointing the Governor from a body comprising representatives of both the states and the Centre and also from the judiciary to ensure fair play.
  • This would ensure that cooperative federalism is at play which has worked quite well for India in terms of GST reform which functions through the GST Council with representatives of both the Centre and the states.
• Impartiality and independence of the office could be ensured by providing security of tenure.
  • This has worked quite well in India where the judges of the HCs and the SC and some other constitutional functionaries are given this status.
  • This would mean that Governors make their decision in the public interest rather than in the political interest.
• The removal of the Governor could be done by the appointing committee. This again would ensure that both the Centre and the state have a say in the removal of the Governor.