The state executive and the office of Governor

Detail

1. The parallel structure: a nominal head and a real executive

• Two heads, two roles. Each state copies the Union's parliamentary system. In a parliamentary system, the executive comes from the legislature and answers to it.
• Nominal head (the formal head, who acts in the state's name): the Governor.
• Real executive (the people who actually govern): the Chief Minister (CM) and the council of ministers.

• The ministers share collective responsibility to the Vidhan Sabha (the Legislative Assembly). Collective responsibility means the whole ministry stands or falls together. If the Assembly passes a no-confidence vote, they all leave office.

• Why this model? India already knew responsible government in the provinces from the Government of India Act, 1919 (dyarchy) and the Government of India Act, 1935 (provincial autonomy). The Constitution kept the same model at both levels.

• Three differences from the Union (Class 11, Executive):

Point	Union	State
Head	President, elected by an electoral college	Governor, appointed by the President
Legislature	Always two Houses	Unicameral (one House) or bicameral (two Houses: Vidhan Sabha + Vidhan Parishad)
Discretion of head	Very little	More discretion. Under Art. 163, the Governor acts on ministers' advice except where the Constitution allows the Governor to act alone

• Part VI (Arts. 152-237) sets out state government.
• Art. 152 defines "State" for Part VI.
• Jammu & Kashmir was left out of this definition and had its own Constitution. This ended in 2019, when Art. 370 stopped applying and the state was reorganised into Union Territories. Part VI now covers every state.

2. Office and appointment (Arts. 153-155)

• Art. 153: there shall be a Governor for each state.

• 7th Amendment (1956): a proviso was added so that one person can be Governor of two or more states.

• Art. 154: the executive power of the state is vested in the Governor. The Governor uses it directly or through officers below them.

• In practice, the CM and ministers use this power in the Governor's name.

• Art. 155: the President appoints the Governor by warrant under his hand and seal. A warrant is a formal written order.

• Under Art. 74, the President must act on the advice of the Union Council of Ministers. So in effect the Union government chooses the Governor [2].

Constituent Assembly choice: election, panel or nomination?

• Draft Article 131 (now Art. 155) was debated on 30-31 May 1949. It came in two versions [4]: 1. Direct election by everyone entitled to vote in the state's Assembly elections [4]. 2. Appointment from a panel of four, elected by the state legislators by proportional representation by single transferable vote and secret ballot [4].

• The Assembly chose appointment by the President. The draft was adopted on 31 May 1949 [4].

• Reasons:
• An elected Governor could become a rival power centre to the CM, since both would hold a popular mandate.
• Prime Minister Nehru agreed that an appointed Governor would stand apart from state politics and could act fairly [4].
• The office would also serve as a link between the Union and the state.

3. Qualifications, conditions and privileges (Arts. 157-159, 202, 361)

• Art. 157: qualifications. The Governor must be:
• a citizen of India, and

• at least 35 years old.

• Art. 158: conditions of office.

• The Governor must not be a member of Parliament or of a state legislature. If a sitting member is appointed, the seat is treated as vacated on the day they take office.
• The Governor must not hold any other office of profit. An office of profit is a paid post under a government that could create a conflict of interest.
• The Governor gets an official residence free of rent, plus the emoluments, allowances and privileges that Parliament fixes by law.
• Art. 158(3A), added by the 7th Amendment in 1956: when one person is Governor of two or more states, the President decides how the states share the cost.

• Emoluments cannot be reduced during the term.

• Art. 202(3): the Governor's emoluments are charged on the Consolidated Fund of the State.

• "Charged" means the Assembly can discuss the amount but does not vote on it. This protects the office from political pressure.

• Art. 159: oath. The Governor takes the oath before the Chief Justice of the state's High Court, or the senior-most judge available. The oath is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law, and to serve the people of the state.

• Art. 361: personal immunity (protection from court action). During the term:
• the Governor does not answer to any court for acts done in office;
• no criminal proceedings can be started or continued against the Governor;
• the Governor cannot be arrested or imprisoned;

• civil cases about personal acts need two months' written notice.

• Conventions (practices that are followed but are not written law):

• The Governor should be an outsider, not from the state itself.
• The CM should be consulted before the appointment. The Sarkaria Commission (1988) recommended this [3].

• Later commissions repeated it. They added that the Governor should not have been active in politics in the recent past [5].

• Hargovind Pant v. Raghukul Tilak (1979):

• The Governor holds an independent constitutional office.
• The Governor is not an employee or servant of the Union government, even though the President appoints the Governor.
• Who becomes Governor in practice:
  • Many Governors have been retired politicians, civil servants or military officers.
  • Class 11 Federalism includes a 1952 cartoon showing Union ministers unwilling to "become" Governors. Even then, the office was seen as a quiet, low-power posting.

4. Tenure and removal (Art. 156)

• Art. 156:
• 156(1): the Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President.
• 156(2): the Governor may resign by writing to the President.
• 156(3): the term is five years from the day of taking office. The Governor continues until a successor takes charge [6].

• (NCERT: Class 8 gives a flat "5 years". In fact the five years is subject to the President's pleasure, so a Governor can be removed at any time.)

• Pleasure doctrine: the rule that an appointee serves only as long as the appointing authority wishes. There is no fixed term, no impeachment and no stated grounds for removal.

• Constituent Assembly, 31 May 1949 [6]:
• The Drafting Committee proposed the "pleasure" wording.
• One member warned that it would make the Governor "a creature of the President", open to arbitrary removal.
• An amendment tried to limit removal to treason, threats to the Union's security, incapacity, bribery or corruption. It was rejected as unnecessary.

• The pleasure clause was adopted the same day.

• Contrast: the President can be removed only by impeachment (Art. 61). The Governor has no impeachment procedure.

B.P. Singhal v. Union of India (7 May 2010, five-judge Constitution Bench)

• Background: after the change of government at the Centre in 2004, the Governors of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Goa were removed [2]. A public interest petition challenged the removals.
• Holdings:
• The Union can remove a Governor at any time, without giving reasons and without a hearing [2].
• But the power cannot be used arbitrarily, capriciously or unreasonably. It should be used only in rare and exceptional circumstances, for valid and compelling reasons [2].
• A Governor cannot be removed for being out of step with the Union's policies or ideology, because the Union has lost confidence in the Governor, or merely because the party in power has changed [2].

• Limited judicial review (the courts' power to check whether a government action is legal) is available. The removed Governor must first show a prima facie case of arbitrariness, meaning the case looks valid at first sight [2].

• Doctrine vs practice: Governors were still changed in large numbers after the changes of government in 2004 and 2014. The judgment protects Governors on paper more than in practice.

Reform proposals on appointment and tenure

Body	Year	Recommendation
Sarkaria Commission (Justice R.S. Sarkaria; set up 1983)	1988	Consult the CM before appointment. Governors should finish the 5-year term except in rare and compelling cases. Tell the Governor the grounds for removal and give a chance to explain [2][3]
NCRWC (Venkatachaliah Commission)	2002	Governors should normally finish 5 years. Consult the CM before removing a Governor early [2]
Punchhi Commission	2010	Delete "during the pleasure of the President" from the Constitution. Remove a Governor only by a resolution of the state legislature [2][5]

• Status: none of these has been made into law. They do not bind the Union government [5].
• The Standing Committee of the Inter-State Council began meeting in 2017. It finished discussing all 273 recommendations of the Punchhi Commission, to be placed before the Inter-State Council for decision [7].

Prelims Hooks

• 7th Amendment (1956) → one person can be Governor of two or more states (Art. 153 proviso). Costs are shared as the President decides (Art. 158(3A)).
• Art. 155 → President appoints the Governor by warrant under hand and seal. There is no election, unlike the President.
• Art. 157 → minimum age 35, the same as for the President. Trap: there is no requirement to be qualified for election to the Assembly.
• Art. 159 → oath before the Chief Justice of the High Court, not before the President or the Chief Justice of India.
• Art. 202(3) → Governor's emoluments are charged on the Consolidated Fund of the State, which means they are not voted.
• Art. 156 → tenure "during the pleasure of the President". The Constitution has no impeachment for Governors and lists no grounds for removal.
• Hargovind Pant v. Raghukul Tilak (1979) → the Governor is not an employee of the Union government.
• B.P. Singhal (2010) → removal must not be arbitrary. A change of government at the Centre or a policy difference is not a valid ground. Limited judicial review applies.
• Constituent Assembly, May 1949 → rejected a directly elected Governor and a panel of four elected by legislators by STV.
• Punchhi Commission (2010) → removal by resolution of the state legislature. Sarkaria (1988) → consult the CM before appointment.

Mains Points

• Agent of the Centre or constitutional head?
• Arts. 155-156 plus Art. 74 put both appointment and removal in the Union's hands.
• Wholesale replacements in 2004 and 2014 show the office's dependence on the Union.
• B.P. Singhal (2010) set limits but left only narrow judicial review.

• Use this to argue for security of tenure as a condition for an impartial Governor.

• Why the framers chose nomination.

• It avoided two elected power centres in one state.
• It kept a Union–state link in a "Union of States".

• The trade-off: the Union can use the office for partisan ends, since the Union picks the Governor.

• Reform roadmap.

• Sarkaria (1988): CM consultation, an outsider not recently in politics, a full 5-year term.
• NCRWC (2002): consult the CM before early removal.
• Punchhi (2010): delete the pleasure clause; removal by the state legislature.

• None has been enacted. The Inter-State Council route has been slow, so codifying these through a constitutional amendment or a statutory selection process is a strong answer point.

• Federalism angle.

• The Governor has more discretion than the President, so impartiality matters more at state level.
• Partisan appointments weaken cooperative federalism, the idea that the Union and states work together as partners.
• Neutral, consultative appointments would rebuild trust between the Union and states.