Appointment Procedure of Governors

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• Appointment Process of Governor
• Qualifications to be a Governor
• Term of Governor’s Office
• Criticism of Judges being Appointed as Governor
• News Summary

Why in News?

• Former Supreme Court judge Justice S. Abdula Nazeer is among the six new faces who were appointed as Governors by President Droupadi Murmu recently.
• The President also accepted the resignations of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Ladakh Lieutenant Governor R.K. Mathur in the latest reshuffle.

What is the appointment process of Governor?

• Articles 153 to 167 in Part VI of the Constitution deal with the state executive.
• The Governor is the chief executive head of the state.
• 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.
• He is appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal. In a way, he is a nominee of the Central government.
• But, as held by the Supreme Court in 1979, the office of Governor of a state is not an employment under the Central government.
  • It is an independent constitutional office and is not under the control of or subordinate to the Central government.

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What are the qualifications required to be a Governor?

• The Constitution lays down only two qualifications for the appointment of a person as a Governor –
  • He should be a citizen of India;
  • He should have completed the age of 35 years.

Term of Governor’s Office

• A Governor holds office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office. However, this term of five years is subject to the pleasure of the President.
• The Supreme Court held that the pleasure of the President is not justifiable.
• The Governor has no security of tenure and no fixed term of office. He may be removed by the President at any time.

Criticism of Judges being Appointed as Governor

• Theoretically, the prospect of a post-retirement job has the potential to influence the pre-retirement conduct of a judge.
• A total ban on retired members of the higher judiciary taking up other assignments is unpractical.
• Already, there are instances of retired judges being appointed to tribunals and commissions of inquiry.
• However, a Governor, despite being the constitutional head of a State, is an employee and agent of the Centre.
• India’s democracy is predicated on an arms’ length relationship maintained between the Executive and the Judiciary.
• This distance is impossible to maintain in an environment in which judges are appointed in what are broadly political capacities — whether as Governor, Minister, or mere MP.

News Summary

• Recently, the Central government had announced that 12 states and the Union Territory of Ladakh will have new Governors.

As part of this, the President appointed six new Governors.

• According to a press release issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan Secretariat, President Droupadi Murmu has appointed –
  • Lt Gen KT Parnaik as Governor of Arunachal Pradesh;
  • Lakshman Prasad Acharya as Governor of Sikkim;
  • C P Radhakrishnan as Governor of Jharkhand;
  • Shiv Pratap Shukla as Governor of Himachal Pradesh;
  • Gulab Chand Kataria as Governor of Assam; and
• Justice (Retd.) S Abdul Nazeer as Governor of Andhra Pradesh.

Q1) Which part of the Constitution deals with State Executive?

Articles 153 to 167 in Part VI of the Constitution deal with the state executive. The state executive consists of the Governor, the Chief Minister, the Council of Ministers and the Advocate General of the state.

Q2) Can Governor pardon a death sentence?

The President can grant pardon in all cases where the sentence given is the sentence of death but the pardoning power of the Governor does not extend to death sentence cases

Source: Four BJP leaders, ex-SC Judge among 6 new governors  |  Indian Express