{"id":41621,"date":"2024-07-20T10:32:28","date_gmt":"2024-07-20T05:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=41621"},"modified":"2025-10-14T12:04:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T06:34:40","slug":"sc-to-examine-article-361-granting-immunity-to-governors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/sc-to-examine-article-361-granting-immunity-to-governors\/","title":{"rendered":"SC to Examine Article 361 Granting Immunity to Governors"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>What is the Role of a Governor in India?<\/li>\n<li>What is Article 361 of the Indian Constitution?<\/li>\n<li>What is the Woman Petitioner Seeking?<\/li>\n<li>Significance of the SC\u2019s Decision to Examine Immunity Granted under Article 361<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in News?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Supreme Court of India has agreed to examine a plea filed by a woman staff member of the West Bengal Raj Bhawan, who has accused Governor (CV Ananda Bose) of sexual harassment.<\/li>\n<li>The plea challenges the immunity granted to the governor of a state under <strong>Article 361<\/strong> of the Indian Constitution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Role of a Governor in India?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Some important constitutional provisions:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Everything related to the office of Governor (appointment, powers, etc) have been discussed under <strong>Part VI (Article 153 to Article 162)<\/strong> of the Indian Constitution.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Article 153:<\/strong> There shall be a Governor for each State and the same person can be the Governor for two\/more States.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Article 154<\/strong>: The executive power of the State shall be vested in the governor and shall be exercised by him\/her in accordance with the Constitution of India.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Article 155:<\/strong> Governor of a State shall be appointed by the <strong>President <\/strong>by warrant under his hand and seal.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Article 156:<\/strong> The Governor shall hold office during the<strong> pleasure of the President<\/strong>, but his normal term of office will be <strong>five <\/strong>years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Role:<\/strong> It is stated that the Governor has a dual role &#8211; <strong>s\/he is the constitutional head of state<\/strong> (bound by the advice of his\/her council of ministers) and <strong>s\/he functions as a vital link<\/strong> between the Union and the State govt.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Functioning of the office over the years:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Governor enjoys certain <strong>discretionary powers <\/strong>under the Constitution (<strong>Article 163<\/strong>), such as giving or withholding assent to a Bill passed by the state legislature, etc.<\/li>\n<li>These powers enable governors to make critical decisions, particularly during times of political or administrative uncertainty.<\/li>\n<li>However, these discretionary powers have resulted in <strong>friction with the state government<\/strong> as the Governors have been seen by opposition as <strong>an agent of the Centre<\/strong> acting on the behest of the central government.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Can governors\u2019 powers be reviewed? <\/strong>Although these powers are constitutionally granted, they are <strong>subject to judicial review<\/strong> to ensure they are exercised within legal and proper bounds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is Article 361 of the Indian Constitution?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About Article 361:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It grants the President of India and governors of state immunity from legal proceedings over the duration of their term in office.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The article is an exception to Article 14<\/strong> (right to equality) of the Constitution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Description of Article 361:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Criminal proceedings: <\/strong>No criminal cases can be initiated or continued against them, and no arrest or imprisonment orders can be issued by any court.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Civil proceedings: <\/strong>The Article mandates a two-month notice for any civil proceedings related to personal acts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No arrest or imprisonment:<\/strong> The Article restricts any arrest or imprisonment orders during their term.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The aim of the Article:<\/strong> To ensure that they are <strong>not answerable to any court<\/strong> for the exercise and performance of their official powers and duties, nor for any acts done in the course of these duties.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Woman Petitioner Seeking?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Call for immediate investigation:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>An investigation is essential and cannot be deferred until the governor leaves office.<\/li>\n<li>Hence, the immunity under Article 361 should not bar the investigation, especially given the time-sensitive nature of such probes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Framing specific guidelines:<\/strong> The plea asks for directions to frame specific guidelines under which governors enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Questioning absolute immunity:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The plea contends that the immunity under Article 361 <strong>should not be absolute<\/strong>, allowing illegal acts or acts that violate fundamental rights under Part III of the Constitution.<\/li>\n<li>It argues that this immunity should not impair police powers to investigate the offence or name the perpetrator in a complaint or FIR.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Significance of the SC\u2019s Decision to Examine Immunity Granted under Article 361:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It could have significant implications for &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li>The interpretation of constitutional protections for high office holders, and<\/li>\n<li>The accountability mechanisms in place for addressing misconduct.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Q.1. What is the difference between the pardoning powers of the President and Governor?<\/h2>\n<p>The power of the President (and not the Governor) extends in cases where the punishment or sentence is by a Court Martial. The President can grant pardon (and not the Governor) in all cases where the sentence given is the sentence of death.<\/p>\n<h2>Q.2. What is the Governor\u2019s role in lawmaking and where the controversy arises?<\/h2>\n<p>Article 200 of the Constitution states that a Bill shall be presented to the Governor (after being passed by the state legislature), who may give\/ withhold assent to the Bill, or reserve it for President\u2019s consideration. Since the article does not provide a timeline, Governors have often withheld assent to Bills for extended periods.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/sc-agrees-to-examine-constitutional-provision-granting-immunity-to-governors\/article68421078.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Supreme Court agrees to examine constitutional provision granting immunity to Governors<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/supreme-court-notice-bengal-govt-governor-article-361-9463065\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/india-news\/sc-to-examine-governor-immunity-over-molestation-row-what-is-article-361-124071900715_1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">BS<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The SC has agreed to examine a plea filed by a WB Raj Bhawan woman staff, challenging the immunity granted to the governor of a state under Article 361 of the Indian Constitution<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":41622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-41621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}