Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The States
Part VI
(Articles 152-167)
The Governor.-
The pattern of the Government in the State is the same as that for the union
i.e., Parliamentary system. The Constitution of India by article 153, creates
the office of the Governor. Thus each State shall have a Governor. The
executive power of the State is vested in the Governor. He shall exercise the
executive power either directly or through officers subordinate to him. The
expression "officers subordinate to him" include a Minister of the State.
Appointment of a Governor.-
Qualifications.
The Governor must not be a member of either House of Parliament and House
of the Legislature of any State. He shall not hold any other office of profit.
(Article 158)
The salary of the Governor has been raised to Rs. one lakh ten thousand per
month from Rs. 36,000 per month. He is also entitled to free use of his official
residence. The salary and allowances of the Governor cannot be reduced
during his term of office [article 158(4)]. The Governor is required to take an
oath or affirmation in the presence of the Chief Justice of the High Court or if
he is not present, in the presence of the senior-most Judge of the High Court.
Article 156 of the Constitution says that the Governor shall hold office during
the pleasure of the President. Subject to this rule, the tenure of the office of
the Governor is fixed for five years from the date on which he entered upon
his office. He may be removed from his office at any time by the President.
The Governor may resign his office by writing to the President. The five years'
terms provided for the Governor under cause (3) is subject to exercise of
pleasure by the President under clause (1) of article 156.
Under article 160 of the Constitution, the President is authorised to make such
provision as he thinks fit for the discharge of the functions of the Governor of a
State in any contingency.
The powers of the Governor of a State are analogous to those of the President
excepting that the Governor has no diplomatic, military or emergency power.
The powers of the Governor can be classified under four heads-
Article 161 says that the Governor shall have the powers to
grant pardons, reprieves, respite or remission of punishment or
to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person
convicted of any offence against any law relating to matter to
which, the executive power of the State extends. The executive
power of the State extends to matters with respect to which the
Legislature of the State has power to make laws (Article 162).
The Governor can issue ordinance only when two conditions are
fulfilled-
Explain the Council of States and what type of relationship exist between the
Governor and the Council of Ministers?
Article 163(1) says that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Chief
Minster as the head to "aid and advise" the Governor in exercise of his
This amendment has added two new clauses 1A and 1B to article 164 of the
Constitution. The amendment makes two important changes.
The new clause (1B) provides that where the 1/3 members of the original
political party defect from the party their membership of the legislature will
automatically come to an end. Such a member cannot be appointed as a
Minister.
In general, the relation between the Governor and his Ministers is the same as
that between the President and his Ministers, with this important difference
that while the Constitution does not empower the President to exercise any
function it authorises the Governor to exercise some function 'in his
discretion'.
Article 163 says that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Chief
Minister as the head to aid and advice the Governor. The exercise of his
functions, except insofar as he is by or under the Constitution required to
exercise his functions on his discretion.
Sunil Kumar v. Government of West Bengal, AIR 1950 Cal 274: 51 Cr LJ 1110.
The Governor under the present Constitution cannot act except in accordance
with the advice of his Ministers. Under the Government of India Act, 1935, the
position was different.........Under the present Constitution, the power to Act in
his discretion or in his individual capacity has been taken away and the
In the following circumstances the Governor will be called upon to exercise his
discretion-
The Constitution provides for a Legislature for every State in the Union. The
Legislature of every State consists of the Governor and House or Houses. The
Legislatures in the State are either bicameral i.e,, consists two Houses or
unicameral i.e., consists of one House. The Legislature in Bihar, Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, is bicameral. In the remaining
States the Legislature is unicameral consisting of only one House i.e., the
Legislative Assembly (Article 168).
Under article 169 Parliament may by law provide for the abolition of the
Legislative Council in a State where it already exists and also for the creation
of such a Council in a State where such a Council does not exist if the
Legislative Assembly of the State passes a resolution to that effect by a
majority of the total membership of the Assembly and by a majority of not less
two-third of the members of the Assembly present and voting. No such law
making provision for the creation and abolition of the Legislative Council shall
be deemed to be an amendment of the Constitution and, therefore, it can be
passed like an ordinary piece of Legislation [Article 168(b)].
In the Legislative Assembly of each State seats will be reserved for the
Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes on the basis of population (Article
332) and also if the Governor of a State is of opinion that the Anglo-Indian
community is not adequately represented in the Legislative Assembly he may
nominate such member of the community to the Assembly as he considers
appropriate (Article 333).
Originally, all such reservation of the seats for the Scheduled Castes, the
Scheduled Tribes and representatives of the Anglo-Indian community were to
cease after ten years from the commencement of the Constitution. The
Constitution (8th Amendment) Act, 1959, extended all such reservations and
nominations for another ten years i.e., for 20 years. The Constitution (Twenty-
third Amendment) Act, 1969, further extended this period from 20 years to 30
years. This period has been extended from 30 years to 40 years by the
Constitution (45th Amendment) Act, 1980.
The normal tenure of the Legislative Assembly of every State is of five years
but it may be dissolved earlier by the Governor (Article 172). During the
proclamation of emergency the life of the Assembly may be extended by an
Act of Parliament for a period of one year at the time but in no case beyond a
period of six months after the proclamation has ceased to operate (Article
172).
The total number of members in the Legislative Council of a State having such
The Legislative Council is not subject to dissolution but after every two
years 1/3 of its members retire. Like the Rajya Sabha in the Centre it is a
permanent body.
Qualifications of Membership.-
(a) must be a citizen of India, and makes and subscribe before some
persons authorised by the Election Commission an oath or affirmation
prescribed in the Third Schedule;
(b) must not be less than 25 years of age in the case of the Legislative
Assembly and must not be less than 30 years of age in the case of
Legislative Council;
Disqualification of membership.-
Article 190 deals with the disqualification incurred by a member after he has
been elected as member. It says that no one can be a member of both the
Houses of the Legislature of a State or a member of the Legislature of two or
more States to the same time. If a person in chosen a member of the
Legislatures of two or more States then at the expiry of the specified period
under rules made by the President his seat in the Legislature shall fall vacant
unless he resign his seat in all but one of the States. If a member of the State
Legislature absents himself, without the permission of House from all meetings
for a period of sixty days, the House may declare his seat vacant [article 190
(3)(4)]. If a member becomes disqualified under clause (1) of article 191 his
seat shall become vacant.
Decisions on Qualifications.-
Before taking his seat in the House, every member of State Legislature has to
take oath or affirmation before the Governor or some person appointed by him
for that purpose (article 188). Member of a State Legislature shall be entitled
to receive such salaries and allowances as may from time-to-time be
determined by the Legislature of the State by law (Article 195).
The Governor may from time-to-time prorogue the House, or either Houses.
[Article 174(2)(a)]. The Governor may dissolve the Legislative Assembly of a
State [Article 174(2)(b)]. In case of dissolution and prorogation, the Governor
can exercise his discretion to some extent. His discretion is non-justiciable and
cannot be challenged even on the ground of mala fide.
Under article 175, the Governor has right to address either House of the
Legislature of a State or both Houses assembled together. He may send
message to the Houses or House of the Legislature in respect of a Bill pending
in the Legislature or otherwise. When a message is so sent, it is the duty of
the House to consider any matter required by the message to be taken into
consideration.
Articles 175 and 176 are exactly similar to those of articles 86 and 87 relating
to the functions of the President. Thus the position of the Governor in relation
to State Legislature is the same as that of the President in relation to
Parliament.
Speaker and Deputy Speaker.-The Speaker is the Chief Presiding Officer of the
Legislative Assembly of a State. He is elected by the members of the Assembly
from their own members. The Assembly elects its Deputy Speaker also from its
own members (Article 178). The Deputy Speaker performs the duties of the
Speaker when the Speaker is absent or while the office of the Speaker is
vacant. Both Speaker and Deputy Speaker vacate theirs offices when they
cease to be members of the Assembly. They may also resign from their offices.
They can be removed from their officers, by the resolution of the Assembly
passed by a majority of all the members of the Assembly [Article 180(1)]. For
moving such a resolution fourteen days' notice is required (Article 179). The
Speaker does not vacate his office on the dissolution of the Assembly. He
continues in office until a new Speaker is elected before the new House meets.
Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council (Articles 182, 183, 184,
185).-The Legislative Council of each State elect its Chairman and Deputy
Chairman from among its own members. Like the Vice-President in the Rajya
Sabha, the Governor is not the ex-officio Chairman of the Legislative Council.
Like the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, the Chairman and Deputy Chairman
may resign their offices, vacate their offices when they cease to be members
Legislative Procedure.