President's Control over the Governor

President governor control begins with the basic constitutional fact that every Governor is appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal under Article 155, and holds office during the pleasure of the President under Article 156. This appointment-and-pleasure relationship gives the Union executive real leverage over who occupies Raj Bhavan in every state, even though the Governor is not treated in law as a subordinate employee of the Centre.

Appointment and Tenure (Articles 155-156)

Article 155 vests the power of appointing a state's Governor in the President. Article 156 fixes a normal term of five years from the date the Governor enters office, but this term is expressly "subject to the pleasure of the President," meaning a Governor can be removed at any time without any ground being specified in the Constitution. A Governor may also resign by addressing a letter to the President. Any Indian citizen aged 35 or above is eligible for appointment, and a Governor cannot simultaneously hold any other office of profit or be a member of a legislature.

This pleasure-based tenure is one of the clearest levers of presidential, and by extension Union government, control over the office. It has, in practice, been used politically: after the December 1989 change of government at the Centre, the incoming Prime Minister advised the President to ask all sitting Governors to resign, an episode often cited to show how the appointment-and-pleasure mechanism can be used to align gubernatorial personnel with the party in power at the Union level, though not every Governor asked to resign on that occasion was in fact replaced.

Is the Governor Subordinate to the Centre?

Despite being a presidential appointee removable at pleasure, the Governor is not, in constitutional theory, a subordinate of the Union government. In Hargovind Pant (1979), the Supreme Court held that the office of Governor is an independent constitutional office, not an employment under the Central government and not under the control or subordination of the Centre. This creates a distinctive constitutional position: the Governor owes appointment and continuance in office to the President's pleasure, yet is expected to function as an independent constitutional authority for the state, not as an agent taking day-to-day instructions from New Delhi.

Channels of Presidential Control Beyond Appointment

Several other constitutional provisions extend the President's influence over matters connected with the Governor's functions.

Under Article 200, when the Legislative Assembly (or both Houses, in bicameral states) passes a bill, the Governor may assent, withhold assent, return it for reconsideration if it is not a Money Bill, or reserve it for the President's consideration, effectively transferring the final decision to the Union executive. Under Article 217, the process of appointing High Court judges also formally runs through the President, with the state's Governor consulted along the way, linking gubernatorial and presidential roles in judicial appointments.

Article 356: Governor's Report and Its Limits

The most significant, and most contested, channel of control is Article 356. When the Governor forms the view that the government of a state cannot be carried on in accordance with the Constitution, the Governor sends a report to the President, which can become the basis for a Proclamation under which the President assumes some or all functions of the state government and the powers of the state legislature come to be exercised by or under Parliament's authority. Such a Proclamation must be ratified by Parliament to continue in force.

This power was significantly curtailed by the Supreme Court in S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994), which held that the President's satisfaction for invoking Article 356 must rest on material that can be examined, and that a Governor's report alone is not sufficient justification for dismissing an elected state government. The judgment established that the exercise of this power is subject to judicial review, correcting what had, in earlier decades, sometimes been a loosely justified use of central control over states through the Governor's office.

The Underlying Constitutional Tension

The overall picture of President-Governor relations reflects a deliberate constitutional balance: the President (in practice the Union Council of Ministers) controls entry into and exit from the office of Governor and can act decisively through Article 356 machinery when a state's constitutional government has broken down, but once in office, the Governor is meant to function with independent constitutional standing rather than as a mere delegate of the Centre. Judicial decisions such as Hargovind Pant and S.R. Bommai have progressively reinforced the second half of that balance, checking the more unilateral uses of presidential and central control that were more common in earlier decades.

UPSC Relevance

Prelims

• Article 155: Governor appointed by the President by warrant under hand and seal.
• Article 156: Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President; normal term is five years.
• Hargovind Pant (1979): Governor's office is independent, not subordinate to the Centre.
• S.R. Bommai (1994): limited the President's Article 356 power; Governor's report alone is not sufficient.

Mains

• Examine the constitutional relationship between the President and the Governor, and assess whether the Governor functions as an independent authority or an agent of the Union. (GS2)
• Discuss how S.R. Bommai v. Union of India reshaped the exercise of Article 356 and its implications for Centre-State relations. (GS2)

FAQ

Q1. Can the President remove a Governor without giving reasons? Yes. Under Article 156, a Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President and can be removed at any time without a specified ground.

Q2. Is the Governor legally an employee of the Central government? No. The Supreme Court in Hargovind Pant (1979) held that the office of Governor is an independent constitutional office, not subordinate to or under the control of the Centre.

Q3. How does a Governor's report affect a state government? Under Article 356, a Governor's report that a state's government cannot function per the Constitution can be a basis for the President's Proclamation, but after S.R. Bommai (1994), such a report alone is not sufficient; the President's satisfaction must rest on examinable material.

Q4. What role does the Governor play in bill assent that involves the President? Under Article 200, a Governor may reserve a state bill for the President's consideration instead of deciding on it directly.

Quick Revision

• Article 155: President appoints the Governor by warrant.
• Article 156: Governor holds office at the President's pleasure; five-year normal term.
• Hargovind Pant (1979): Governor's office is constitutionally independent, not a Central subordinate.
• Article 200: Governor may reserve a state bill for presidential consideration.
• Article 356: Governor's report can trigger President's Rule, but S.R. Bommai (1994) requires it to rest on examinable material.
• December 1989: mass resignation request to Governors illustrates political use of the pleasure doctrine.

Sources

• Constitution of India, Articles 155-156 — legislative.gov.in
• Constitution of India, Article 200 — legislative.gov.in
• Constitution of India, Article 356 — legislative.gov.in
• S.R. Bommai v. Union of India, (1994) 3 SCC 1 — Supreme Court of India judgment record

Further Reference

For deeper reading on this topic and the wider polity syllabus, these standard works are recommended:

• M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity (McGraw Hill) — the standard UPSC handbook.
• D.D. Basu, Introduction to the Constitution of India (LexisNexis) — authoritative constitutional-law treatment.
• The Constitution of India — Bare Act — the official text.

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