New Delhi, May 7: In an important ruling on the Centre’s powers to remove state governors, the Supreme Court on Friday disapproved the practice of changing them merely because a change of regime means the new government “loses its confidence” in them.

“In the case of a governor, loss of confidence or the governor’s views being out of sync with that of the Union government will not be grounds for withdrawal of pleasure by the Centre,” a five-judge Constitution Bench ruled.
The ruling came on the petition of Bharatiya Janata Party leader B.P. Singhal, who had challenged the removal of four NDA-appointed governors in the UPA’s first term.
While interpreting the provision of Article 156(1) of the Constitution on removal of governors, the bench, headed by Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan said though the governors “shall hold the office at the pleasure of the President, the exercise of such pleasure is restricted by the requirement that it should be on the advice of the Council of Ministers”.
But there should be valid reasons before the Council of Ministers for the removal of a governor, not merely “loss of confidence” by the ministry in a particular governor as the Centre is not expected to use its powers “arbitrarily”, said the Constitution Bench.
 

S.S. Negi