The document discusses the executive powers of state governors in India as outlined in the constitution. It explains that governors are appointed by the president and have similar executive powers at the state level as the president does at the national level, such as appointing chief ministers and other officials. The document also analyzes several past court cases related to challenges of governors' exercise of their executive powers.

1. School Of Law, NCU
ConstitutionalLaw - II
EXECUTIVE POWERS OF STATES
Project submittedbyAnkushChattopadhyay(13LLB011).

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Acknowledgement
I have taken sincere efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without
the kind support and help of friends. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.
I am highly indebted to NCU University for their guidance and constant supervision as well as
for providing necessary information regarding the project & also for their support in completing
the project.
I would like to express my gratitude towards my family members & members of NCU
University for their kind co-operation and encouragement which help me in completion of this
project.
I would like to express my special gratitude and thanks to my subject teacher, for giving me
such attention and time.
Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their help, blessings, love and support
for me to prepare for the project writing.
ANKUSH CHATTOPADHYAY

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Introduction
In order to understand the executive powers of the state, one needs to first understand where
these powers come from and what influences them.
In the present case, the executive powers of a state comes from the Constitution of India. An
article under the constitution, namely article 154 grants these powers to the states and also
defines the borders, that is, the boundaries up to which these powers can be extended.
Article 154 of the Indian Constitution states as follows:-
154. Executive power of State.-
(1) The executive power of the State shall be vested in the Governor and shall be exercised by
him either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with this Constitution.
(2) Nothing in this article shall-
(a) be deemed to transfer to the Governor any functions conferred by any existing law
on any other authority; or
(b) prevent Parliament or the Legislature of the State from conferring by law functions
on any authority subordinate to the Governor.
So, according to the above mentioned article, the governors and lieutenant-governors of
the states and union territories of India have similar powers and functions at the state level as
that of the President of India at Union level.
Governors exist in the states while lieutenant-governors exist in union territories and in the
National Capital Territory of Delhi. Governor acts as the nominal head whereas the real power
lies in the hand of the chief ministers of the states and the chief minister's Council of Minister.
In India, a lieutenant governor is in charge of a Union Territory. However the rank is present
only in the union territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi and Puducherry(the other
territories have an administrator appointed, who is an IAS officer). However the governor of

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Punjab acts as the administrator of Chandigarh. Lieutenant-governors hold the same rank as a
governor of a state in the list of precedence.
The governors and lieutenant-governors are appointed by the president for a term of 5 years. A
few of the powers of the so elected Governors and Lieutenant-Governors are as follows.
The Constitution vests in the governor all the executive powers of the state government. The
governor appoints the chief minister, who enjoys the support of the majority in the Vidhan
Sabha.
An important function of the Governor is to appoint the Chief Minister of the State. Other
ministers are also appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. The ministers
including the Chief Minister hold office during the pleasure of the Governor. The governor
also appoints the other members of the Council of Ministers and distributes portfolios to
them on the advice of the chief minister.
The Council of Ministers remain in power during the 'pleasure' of the governor, but in the real
sense it means the pleasure of the Vidhan Sabha. As long as the majority in the Vidhan Sabha
supports the government, the Council of Ministers cannot be dismissed.
The governor appoints the chief minister of a state. He/she also appoints the Advocate
General and the chairman and members of the State Public Service Commission. The
President consults the governor in the appointment of judges of the High Courts and the
governor appoints the judges of the District Courts. All administrations are carried on
his/her name, he/she also has the power to appoint staff for his tenure in class one and class
four as per constitution of India.
The Governor is responsible for the administration of the welfare schemes of the
scheduled castes and other backward class. He may appoint a minister for this purpose. The
Governor has the constitutional right to know the decisions of the Council of Ministers relating
to the administrative affairs of the State and the proposals for legislation. But like the President
of the Union, the Governor has no diplomatic or military power.

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The power of Governor to pardon under Article 161 runs parallel to that of the President
under Article 72. However, this power of the Governor, dealt with under Article 161 of the
Constitution, is narrower in scope than the power of the President to grant pardons. The
Constitutional provision also empowers the Governor to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or
remissions of punishment, or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person who
has been convicted of an offence against any law that relates to a matter covered by the
executive power of the State.
In the case of Swaran Singh v. State of U.P, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh remitted the whole
of the life sentence of an MLA of the State Assembly who had been convicted of the offence
of murder within a period of less than two years of his conviction. The Supreme Court found
that Governor was not posted with material facts such as the involvement of the accused in 5
other criminal cases, his unsatisfactory conduct in prison and the Governor’s previous rejection
of his clemency petition in regard to the same case. Whereas in the case of K.M Nanavati v.
State of Bombay, the reprieve granted by the Governor under Article 161 was held
constitutionally invalid since it conflicted with the rules made by the Supreme Court under
Article 145.
After the decision to grant pardon is taken by the Executives, the result is again available for
judicial review by the Supreme Court. As in Satpal v State of Haryana, the Court quashed the
order of Governor to pardon the person convicted of murder on the ground that the Governor
had not been advised properly with all the relevant materials. The Court held that such an order
tends to be arbitrary and irrational. The case of Bikas Chatterjee v. Union of India restated the
principles of judicial review on the pardon power.
Though the trend towards greater judicial scrutiny of the power of pardon is undoubtedly a
welcome one, the judiciary must leave the executive with a window of discretion in the exercise
of the same. If we do not combine democratic governance with firm governance, we shall have
no one except ourselves to blame for lawlessness resulting from the abuse of the provisions
relating to pardon by criminals guilty of heinous crime.
The State executive i.e. the Governor gets the power of making ordinance from Article
213. The law making power in state is inherently vested in the state assembly. But there may
be situations when state assembly is not in session and it is necessary to make laws for the state.

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In these circumstances Article 213 of the constitution provides that Governor of the state can
promulgate ordinance. There are some provisions regarding this:
1. If at any time, when the legislative assembly of the state is not in session, or where there
is a legislative council in the state, when both houses of legislature are not in session
and the Governor satisfies that it is necessary to make law then he can promulgate
ordinances.
2. The Governor has powers to pass ordinance on the matters on which the legislative
assembly has powers.
3. Once an ordinance is passed, it should be placed before Legislative assembly of the
state or where there is a legislative council, before both the houses and approved by
then within six weeks of their respective dates of reassembly.
4. The ordinance lapses if it is not approved within the aforesaid six weeks or if it is
rejected earlier or if the Governor himself withdraws the ordinance.
But there are certain circumstances when the Governor shall not promulgate any ordinance
without the instructions of the President. This includes instances when the bill contains the
same provisions which require the previous sanction of the president, the Governor would have
deemed it necessary to reserve the bill for the previous consideration of the president or if an
act contains same provisions which has been reserved for the consideration of the president.
The Governor has the power to dissolve the Legislative Assembly under Article 174 of the
Constitution. However, this provision is neither explicit not any convention has been developed
in this regard. Clause (2)(b) merely says that the Governor from time to time dissolve the
Legislative Assembly and no circumstances have been provided in this regard. Generally, the
Assemble is not dissolved till the expiry of subscribed period of 5 years, nonetheless, in
exceptional circumstances; it can be dissolved by the Governor before expiry of normal period.

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M.V. Pylee in this regard opined that “it is not a normal practice to dissolve a Legislature before
it has completed its prescribed period of life. Dissolution at an earlier date with a view to
appealing to the electorates and seeking to solve a situation of political instability is an accepted
principle of Parliamentary System of Government.” The circumstances when the Governor can
dissolve the Legislative Assembly are:
i) Chief Minister enjoys the majority support and advises the Governor to dissolve the
Legislative Assembly.
ii) Due to the defection of the members of ruling party or by another reason, the ruling
party comes in minority.
iii) Other party or coalition of parties is not in a position to form the government.
iv) On the basis of the report sent by the Governor that the constitutional machinery of
the State has been failed, the President may dissolve the Legislative Assembly on the
recommendations of the Union Cabinet.
Another case I would like to present is the case of Shamsher Singh & Anr vs State Of Punjab;
(1974 AIR 2192). In this case, there were two subordinate judges who had been terminated
from services by the Governor of Punjab without giving any reasons for the termination.
They also stated that the letter of termination said that their termination was done on the
recommendation of the High Court. The contention of appellants was that the governor can
only terminate employees of the state on the basis of his personal satisfaction. They also
referred to certain cases which had been previously decided by the apex court of the land.
But the state was of the view that the Governor exercises powers of appointment and removal
conferred on him by or under the Constitution like executive powers of the State Government
only on the aid and advice of his council of Ministers and not personally.
The apex court in this matter said that the view point of the appellants is stronger of the two
and it is also more in accordance with the established law, that is, the constitution of India, and
so, it held that the termination of the two judges are liable to be quashed because the governor
had not acted on the basis of his own personal satisfaction.

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In another case, The State Of Uttar Pradesh And Anr. vs Babu Ram Upadhya; (1961 AIR 751).
In this case, a police officer was terminated from service, when he was charged with stealing
money from a person. Moreover, this termination was carried out after a proper and fair trial
had been given to the officer. But it was claimed in an appeal that the provision according to
which the trial had taken place was a wrong provision and therefore their termination is bound
to be revoked.
The apex court of the land, after considering this appeal and also looking into and inquiring
about the related provisions of the trial, came to the decision that the appellants claim is true
and that there was indeed an error in the initial prosecution of the appellant and due to this
error, the termination which had been given to the appellant in the previous judgement stands
to be revoked.
After this, the officer approached the governor of Uttar Pradesh and asked him to appoint him
as an officer because of which he can no longer be terminated unless the governor thinks fit.
This decision of the governor was brought under scrutiny but the court decreed that the
governor has the power to select and employ people in the state services.
There exist countless more cases where it is contended that the powers of the governor or the
actions of the governors are contradictory to existing legal provisions but every time these
claims have been dealt with and appropriate actions have been taken.
This only leads us to understand that no matter what the situation or what the circumstances,
the courts of the country are always trying their best to uphold the constitution of India, and to
provide the most legally and morally correct judgement.

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Conclusion
After reading and reviewing the above mentioned material, it can be clearly understood that
the powers of the Governor, that is, the Executive Powers of the Indian States, is very often
held in dispute. And due to all these disputes, the exercise of these powers is always kept
under check.
We have also learned that the powers of the Governor is almost similar to that of the
President of India as that figure also exercises the same powers albeit at a greater extent.
Therefore the powers of the Governor are as follows:-
1. The Governor appoints the Chief Minister of the State.
2. The Governor appoints the Council of Ministers.
3. The Governor appoints the Advocate General and the chairman and members of the
State Public Service Commission.
4. The President consults the governor in the appointment of judges of the High Courts.
5. The governor appoints the judges of the District Courts.
6. The Governor is responsible for the administration of the welfare schemes of the
scheduled castes and other backward class.
7. The Governor has the power to grant pardon.
8. The Governor has the power of making ordinance.
9. The Governor has the power to dissolve the Legislative Assembly.

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Bibliography
This project has been made successful due to the materials found in the following fields
of research.
Books:-
 Dr. J. N. Pandey “The Constitutional Law of India” 52nd Edition.
 E. S Crown- Essay on the judicial review in Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences.
 M Laxmikanth “Indian Polity” 4th Edition.
 Universal’s “The Constitution of India” Bare Act 2014.
 Acharya, P.D.T. Constitutional Law. Lok Sabha Secretariat. New Delhi. 2008.
 Bakshi, P. M. The Constitution of India. Universal Law Publishing Co. Delhi.
(10th ed.). 2010.
 Jain, M.P. Indian Constitutional Law. Lexis Nexis. (6th ed. reprint). 2011
Websites:-
 http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1995256/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governors_of_states_of_India#Executive_powers
 http://www.lawctopus.com/academike/executive-power-union-state/
 http://www.enableall.org/competitive-quest/GK/TheStateExecutive.html
 http://www.elections.in/government/state-governor.html
 http://indiankanoon.org/search/?formInput=citedby:1995256

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 http://www.importantindia.com/12242/powers-and-functions-of-governor-of-an-
indian-states/