THE DISCRETIONARY POWERS OF GOVERNORS OF STATES IN INDIA

THE DISCRETIONARY POWERS OF GOVERNORS OF STATES IN INDIA:

DISCRETIONARY POWERS OF GOVERNORS - MEANING :

The Governor is the nominal head of the state where all of his decisions are taken by consulting the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers. Thus in the normal times, he is the De-Jure head of the state. But the constitution has provided him with the discretionary powers. The powers vested with the decision making of the Governor at his discretion and not bound to the ruling party in the state are called the discretionary powers of the Governor. 

HISTORY OF THE ROLE OF GOVERNORS OF STATE IN INDIA:

The role of Governor and his powers were very limited during the Nehruvian era of 1950-67. The mediator between the center and the state was the outsider from the government but not the Governor as now. Thus, the Governors of different states were dissatisfied with their job and protested to make the post significant or to remove the post for all. Sarojini Naidu, the then governor of Uttar Pradesh, considered herself "A bird in a golden cage." K.V. Rao, the then major general,asserted that, "one of the casualties of the Nehru era is the state Governors." 

In 1967, a difficult situation was faced by the Indian Government where no political party in the states claimed clean majority, thereby raising the role and powers of Governor. This was the time when for the first time, the discretionary powers for the state governors had been introduced.

THE DISCRETIONARY POWERS OF STATE GOVERNORS:

1) ARTICLE 239(2) : 

                 According to article 239(2), A union territory should be administered by the President through an administrator. The Governor of the adjoining state may be appointed as the administrator by the president for convenience. And in this case, the Governor is free from his council of ministers in decision taking. He is the in charge of that union territory and the decisions are at his discretion.

2) 6TH SCHEDULE: 

               The mineral licensing agreement is between the state government and the district council where the licences for the extraction of minerals is decided. The share of such royalties should be guaranteed to the district council by the state. But, if any dispute arises between the state and the district, Governor determines the agreement and royalty in discretion and the decision is deemed to be final.

3) ARTICLE 371:

                Under article 371, there are exclusive powers given to the Governors of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in the administration of states in various activities.

4)APPOINTMENT OF THE CHIEF MINISTER:

               After the general assembly elections, when no single party or group commands absolute or clean majority, the Governor may call for the party and person whom he thinks would fit to form the government. Such an important decision to form the government is vested with him.

In the same way, if after the death or resignation of the Chief Minister and there is no absolute majority enjoyed by any party, he appoints a person from the party which he thinks would fit to form the government.

5) DISSOLUTION OF THE ASSEMBLY:

             When the Governor feels that the assembly is not functioning according to the provisions of the constitution,then he may take action against it by dissolving it and making a way for new government.

6)ARTICLE 356:

            Governor has the power to report the President of India about the constitutional machinery failure in the state and thus recommend for the imposition of state emergency or president's rule in the state.

The Governor acts as an agent of the president during the president's rule. In simple terms, we can say that the Governor replaces President during the time of President's rule.

7) RECONSIDERATION OF THE BILLS:

            When a Bill has been passed by the Legislative Assembly of a State or, in the case of a State having a Legislative Council, has been passed by both Houses of the Legislature of the State, it shall be presented to the Governor and the Governor shall declare either that he assents to the Bill or that he withholds assent therefrom or that he reserves the Bill for the consideration of the President.

In case of reserving the bill, the President may direct the Governor to return the Bill to the Houses of the Legislature of the State together with such a message as is mentioned in the first provision to Article 200 that when a Bill is so returned, the House or Houses shall reconsider it accordingly within a period of six months from the date of receipt of such message and, if it is again passed by the House or Houses with or without amendment, it shall be presented again to the President for his consideration Procedure in Financial Matters.

8)ARTICLE 161:

       The Governor has the power of pardoning the convicted to reduce his punishment from death or life imprisonment like that of the President.

9)ARTICLE 123:

       The governor has the discretion to issue an ordinance when the legislature is not in session. Ordinance is the temporary law making authority of the Governor when the legislature is in the period of adjournment and when the session begins in the house, the ordinance is to be passed as a bill in the houses and if accepted, will become a law, if not the bill is rejected.

CRITICISM TO THE DISCRETIONARY POWERS OF THE GOVERNORS:

1) If the Governor is given the discretionary powers, he would act according to his own decisions without the consideration of the ruling party which spoils the healthy relation between the Governor and the Chief Minister. So to avoid this problem, it is better for the Governor to consult the council of ministers to maintain proper relations and for good administration.

2) It is argued that the power of the ordinance is misused by the governor. So the high court of that particular state and the Supreme court are given the power to check on the ordinance powers of the Governor.

3) He acts as both the constitutional head of the state and the agent of the center. It is argued by the state machinery that the Governor works according to the Prime Minister but not in his discretion. Thus, to draw a line of demarcation between the two roles played by the governor -

  (A) the role of constitutional head of the state should end where the so called role of agent of the center begins. 

  (B) the role of the constitutional head of the state is given the priority over the role of agents to the center.

MY PERSPECTIVE:

The Governor's role has become quite important in the present day scenario. Actually, he has got very good powers to indirectly keep the ruling party under his control. He should utilize those powers in need and not to harm the governance of the state. He should act as an informer of the state to the center and that of the center to the state. In order to have a peaceful governance, he should maintain healthy relations with the council of ministers and the Chief Minister. The ordinance making power which had been misutilized several times by the Bihar Governor should not be the case with the others. It is considered that the Governors enjoy more discretionary powers when compared to that of President's. So, When given such high powers of discretion, it is the responsibility of every Governor that one should keep it up to the mark and strive to operationalize them perfectly.