Role of Governors and President's Rule

The office of the Governor has long been a source of tension between the states and the central government. Unlike the Chief Minister, the Governor is not an elected office-holder, and many Governors have come from backgrounds such as the armed forces, the civil services or active politics. Because the Governor is appointed by the central government, the Governor's actions are often seen by state governments as central interference in their affairs -- and this suspicion becomes sharper still when a different party is in power at the centre from the one governing the state. The Sarkaria Commission, set up by the central government in 1983 and submitting its report in 1988 to examine centre-state relations, recommended that appointments to the office of Governor should be strictly non-partisan.

The Governor's role becomes even more contentious because of the power connected with Article 356 of the Constitution, one of its most debated provisions. Article 356 allows President's Rule to be imposed on a state when a situation arises in which the state government cannot be run according to the provisions of the Constitution; this effectively means the union government takes over the administration of the state. The President's proclamation of such rule must be approved by Parliament, and President's Rule can, if repeatedly extended, continue for as long as three years. It is the Governor who recommends the dismissal of the state government and the suspension or dissolution of the state assembly, and this has led to many conflicts over the years -- including cases where state governments were dismissed even though they commanded a majority in the legislature, as happened in Kerala in 1959, or were dismissed without even being given a chance to prove their majority, as happened in several states after 1967. Some of these dismissals were challenged in the Supreme Court, which has held that the constitutional validity of a decision to impose President's Rule can indeed be examined by the judiciary. …