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ü The
Governor is the Constitutional head of the state.
ü Just
like the President of India the Governor of a state is a dejure (constitutional
or nominal or titular or Figure) head.
APPOINTMENT:
ü The
Governor of a state is appointed by the President.
OATH OF
OFFICE:
ü The
oath of office of the Governor is administered by the Chief Justice of the
concerned High Court.
QUALIFICATIONS:
ü He
should be a citizen of India.
ü He
should have completed the age of 35 years.
CONDITIONS:
ü Should
not be a member of either of the houses of the Parliament or a House of the
state legislature. If any such person is appointed as the Governor, he is
deemed to have vacated his seat in that house on the date on which he enters
upon his office of Governor.
ü Should
not hold any office of profit.
ü Note:
In Hargovind Vs Raghukul case the Supreme Court held that the office of the
Governor was not an office of profit under the Government.
ü The
Governor is entitled without the payment of rent to the use of Raj Bhavan
(Official residence).
SALARY:
ü The
salary and other allowances are decided by the parliament.
ü At
present the salary of the Governor of a state is Rs. 1, 10,000/-.
TERM:
ü The
Governor holds the office during the pleasure of the president.
REMOVAL:
ü The
Governor may be removed by the President at any time.
ü The
Governor has no fixed term of office.
RESIGNATION:
ü The
Governor submits the resignation to the President of India.
TRANSFER:
ü The
President may transfer a Governor from one state to the other.
REAPPOINTMENT:
ü The
President may reappoint a person as the Governor of the same state or transfer
to the other state.
FUNCTIONS:
ü The
functions of a Governor are similar to that of the President of India.
ü Executive
ü Legislative
ü Judicial
ü Financial
functions.
ü But
the Governor does not have diplomatic, military and Emergency powers like that
of the president of India.
EXECUTIVE
POWERS OF THE
GOVERNOR:
ü The
Governor of a state appoints
ü The
Chief Minister and other Ministers.
ü Advocate
General
ü State
election commissioner
ü The
Chairman and members of the state public service commission
ü Recommends
for the President’s rule in the state.
ü Vice
Chancellors of various universities in the state.
ü Himself
acts as the Chancellor of Universities in the state.
LEGISLATIVE
POWERS OF THE
GOVERNOR:
ü The
Governor is a part of State Legislature.
ü (State
Legislature means the assembly, the Legislative Council and the Governor if it is bicameral legislature. In case of unicameral legislature it is the State legislative assembly and the Governor ).
ü The
Governor summons the State Legislature. (Assembly and Legislative Council).
ü Summon
means beginning of a session.
ü The
Governor Prorogues the State Legislature.
ü Prorogue
means ending of a session.
ü The
Governor dissolves the State Legislative Assembly.
ü Note:
The Legislative Council is a permanent house it cannot be dissolved. But it can be abolished.
ü The
Governor addresses the state legislature at the beginning of the first session
each year.
ü Note:
Here the meaning of year is calendar year and not financial year. This is generally
the budget session that starts in the month of February.
ü The
Governor also addresses the state legislature at the beginning of the first
session after each general election
ü Note:
The general election means the assembly elections in which the people take part
in voting.
ü The
Governor can send messages to the houses of the state legislatures with respect
to a bill pending in the legislature or otherwise.
ü In
case there is a vacancy in the office of both Speaker and Deputy Speaker the
Governor can appoint any member of the State Legislative Assembly to preside
over its meeting.
ü In
case there is a vacancy in the office of both Chairman and Deputy Chairman the
Governor can appoint any member of the State Legislative Council to preside
over its meeting.
ü The
Governor nominates
one Anglo-Indian to the state legislative Assembly.
ü The
Governor
nominates 1/6th of the members to the state
legislative Council from amongst the persons having special knowledge or
practical experience in
·
Science
·
Arts
·
Literature
·
Social Service
·
Cooperative Movement
ü The
Governor decides the question of disqualification of the members of the State
Legislature in consultation with the Election Commission. (Central Election
Commission not State Election Commission).
ü A
bill becomes a law with the assent of the Governor.
ü When
a bill is sent to the Governor, then the Governor can
ü Give
assent to the bill
OR
ü Withhold
the assent to the bill.
OR
ü If
the bill is not a money bill the Governor can return the bill for
reconsideration. If the bill is passed by the state legislature agsin with or
without amendments then the Governor has to give assent to the bill.
ü Note:
Money bills cannot be sent back by the Governor for reconsideration.
OR
ü The
Governor may reserve the bill for the consideration of the President. This
happens in case if the bill passed by the state legislature endangers the position
of the state High Court
ü or
ü if
the bill is against the provisions of the Constitution
ü or
ü Opposed
to the Directive Principles of State Policy
ü or
ü Against
the larger interest of the country
ü or
ü Dealing
with the compulsory acquisition of the property under Article 31A of the Indian
Constitution.
ü The
Governor of a state can promulgate the ordinances when the state legislature is
not in the session. (Article 213).
ü Ordinance:
This is a temporary law. This must be approved by the State legislature within
six weeks from the date of reassembly of the state legislature.
ü The
Governor can also withdraw an ordinance anytime.
ü The
Governor lays the report of
·
State Public Service Commission (SPSC)
·
State Finance Commission (SFC)
·
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
·
Note: There is no separate office of CAG at
the state level.
ü before
the State legislature.
FINANCIAL
POWERS OF THE
GOVERNOR:
ü The
Governor sees that the budget (Annual Financial Statement) is laid before the
State Legislature.
ü The
Money bills can be introduced in the State Legislature only on the prior
recommendation of the Governor.
ü No
demand for a grant can be made except on the recommendation of the Governor.
ü The
Governor can make advances out of the Contingency Fund of a State to meet any
unforeseen expenditure.
ü The
Governor constitutes a State Finance Commission after every five
years to review the financial position of the Panchayats and the Municipalities.
JUDICIAL
POWERS OF THE
GOVERNOR:
ü The
Governor can grant Pardons, reprieves, respites and remissions of punishments
or suspend, remit and commute the sentence of any person convicted of any
offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of
the state extends.
ü The
Governor
cannot Pardon a death Sentence. (The President has the power of
Pardon a death Sentence).
ü The
Governor cannot
grant pardon, reprieve, respite, suspension, remission or commutation in
respect to punishment or sentence by a court martial. (The President of India enjoys
this power).
ü The
Governor takes decisions with relation to the appointments, postings,
promotions of the District Court judges in consultation with the state High
Court.
IMPORTANT
ARTICLES RELATED TO THE GOVERNOR:
ü Article
153: There shall be a Governor for each state.
ü Article
154: The executive power of the state shall be vested in the Governor and shall
be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him in
accordance with the constitution.
ü Article
155: The Governor is appointed by the President.
ü Article
156: The Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President.
ü Article
159: The Governor shall take an oath to faithfully execute the office and to
preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law.
ü Article
163: There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister as the head to
aid and advice the Governor in the exercise of his functions, except in so far as
he is required to exercise his function in his discretion.
ü Article
164: The Council of Ministers are collectively responsible for to the
Legislative Assembly of the state.
The Constitution has mentioned the discretionary powers
to the Governor and not to the President.
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MISCELLANEOUS:
ü There
is a Governor for each state.
ü As
per the 7th Constitutional amendment act of 1956 same person can be
appointed as the Governor for two or more states.
ü If
the same person is appointed as the Governor of two or more states the salary
is shared among the states in such proportion as decided by the President.
ü The
official residence of the Governor is called the Raj Bhavan.
ü The
Ministers hold office during the pleasure of the Governor.
ü The
Advocate General holds office during the pleasure of the Governor.
ü The
State Election Commissioner is cannot be removed by the Governor. He can be
removed only in like manner and on the like grounds as a judge of a High Court.
ü The
Chairman and the members of the state Public Service commission are removed by
the President and not by the governor.
ü The Governor holds the office during the
pleasure of the President. The pleasure of the President is not justiciable. The
Governor has no security of tenure.
Miscellaneous:
ü In AP the
Governor ESL Narasimhan rejected the advice of the Council of Ministers:
On December 20, 2012 the Governor rejected the Cabinets recommendation not to
sanction permission to the CBI to prosecute Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao in
Vanpic project case. Four cases have been sighted by the lawyers in support of
their contention and the most important one was Supreme Court’s verdict in the
case relating to Abhaya Singh Chautala and Ajay Singh Vs CBI. The SC ruled that
in Chautalas case that the HC of Punjab and Haryana was right in holding that
the appellants had abused an entirely different office than the one they were
holding on the date on which cognizance was taken. Hence it is also applicable
to Dharmana Prasad who was holding the portfolio as Revenue Minister then and
now Roads and Building, hence there no necessity of permission from the
government and can be prosecuted by the CBI directly.
June 26, 2014:
- The central government has sought the legal opinion from the Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi on whether the serving Governors can be questioned by the CBI. This is with relation to question two serving Governors who are witnesses in Augusta Westland VVIP helicopter deal scam.
- The Attorney-General gave a green signal for questioning Mr Narayana and he was questioned by the CBI on June 27, 2014.
- The two Governors are Mr Narayana (West Bengal) the then National Security Advisor and Mr. Wanchoo (Goa) the then chief of Special Protection Group (SPG).
- Earlier the UPA government denied the permission to the CBI to question the Governors on the grounds that they enjoy Constitutional immunity under Article 361 of the Indian Constitution.