It has
been a common trend that if the Government at Centre changes, the Governor of
states are either forced to vacate their posts or transferred to some other
states.This has been done on the basis of ambiguous clause in which
constitution neither specifies the eligibility criteria for the post of
Governor nor does it mention about the reasons under which the President can
remove or transfer the Governor of a state.
Why governor's position is so politicized or why
the post of Governor so controversial?
In this
article, we will discuss about following points:
- History of post of Governor
- Who is a Governor?
- Why does Central government
misuse the powers of Governor to administer over the States?
What is
the history of post of Governor?
The post of Governor is a vestige of colonial past and its ancestry could be traced to Section 93 of the Government of India Act,1935.
The post
has been in question from the time it was mentioned in the draft constitution.
Although draft constitution preferred for method of direct election for the
post of Governor, the Constituent Assembly opted for present system of appointment
by the President.
Who is
Governor of a State?
Article-153
in Part-VI of
the constitution provides for the office of Governor of a state.
Governor
is only a constitutional nominal head of the state and real powers of
administration are in the hands of Chief Minister of the State.
Governor
of a state is appointed by the President with warrant under his hand and seal
in consultation with Chief Minister of the state.
Governor
acts as an agent of Central Government in the state but
office of Governor is neither under the control of Central government nor it is
subordinate in any respect to Central Government.
The most
ambiguous and controversial point related to the office of Governor is the
procedure and clauses based on which Governor can be removed from the post. The
Governor can be removed by the President but the Constitution of India does not
clearly mention any specific condition under which Governor can be removed from
the office. This point has been misused by the Central Government based on
which Governors have been changed whenever the government at Centre
changes.
Why is Governor's powers misused by the Centre government to rule over the states?
The Independent India has seen many situations where Governor's special power were misused by the Government at the Centre to rule over the state and sack the State Government [by means of President's rule (Article 356)]. Particularly, the era of 70's and 80's saw en-masse sacking of the state governments, especially during the rule of Indira Gandhi.
Read about: Governor and its discretionary powers
It was thought that the post of Governor would grant an opportunity to eminent academics, artisans and distinguished citizens to get connected to the roots of the country via Political system but this view has gone largely out of window.
The post of Governor was formed to maintain a fair balance between the Centre-State relations and act as "checks and balances" but the numerous instances of President's rule imposed in the states such as recently in Arunachal Pradesh in 2016 certainly bring the post under scanner.
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