New Governors for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh

The President of India, through a press communique, confirmed the appointments of new Governors for the states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

Former Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Kalraj Mishra has been appointed as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh while the incumbent governor of Himachal Pradesh, Acharya Devvrat has been transferred to Gujarat. The incumbent Governor of Gujarat, O.P. Kohli has retired.

Appointment of Governors in India

• The articles relating to the Governor of India can be found between the Articles 152-162 of the Indian Constitution.
• There should be governor for every state (Article 153 of the Indian Constitution).
• The governor is appointed by the President of India (Article 155), on the recommendation of Prime Minister of India. He/she should be at least 35 years of age (Article 157) and not hold any other office of profit (Article 158).

Tenure of a Governor

There is NO FIXED tenure of the governor who holds office at the pleasure of the President.

Removal of a Governor

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan has in 2010, held that a Governor can be replaced only under compelling reasons for proven misconduct or other irregularities. This ruling has disapproved the practice of replacing the governors of a state at the whim of the Central Government.

Now, the Union government has to build a file which will contain the reasons for a governor s removal prior to the council of ministers make such a recommendation for Governor removal to the President. The President can return the file once, but he must sign the recommendation in the event of Cabinet repeats its decision.