{"id":53625,"date":"2025-09-10T21:07:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=53625"},"modified":"2025-09-11T11:44:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T06:14:24","slug":"governors-role-guides-philosophers-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/10-09-2025\/governors-role-guides-philosophers-states","title":{"rendered":"Governors Role as Guides and Philosophers to the States"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, observed that Governors must act as \u201ctrue guides and philosophers\u201d to State governments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Supreme Court observation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Governor\u2019s role:<\/strong> The CJI emphasized that Governors are part of the legislature and share responsibility for ensuring governance functions smoothly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Impact on democracy: <\/strong>Prolonged inaction on Bills undermines the mandate of elected legislatures and disturbs the balance of federalism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Constitutional Framework of Governor\u2019s Assent to Bills<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Article 200: <\/strong>It outlines the Governor\u2019s role in the assent process. When a bill is presented to the Governor after being passed by the State Legislature, they have four options;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Grant Assent: <\/strong>The Governor may approve the bill, making it a law.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Withhold Assent:<\/strong> The Governor may reject the bill, effectively stopping it from becoming law.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Return the Bill for Reconsideration:<\/strong> The Governor can send the bill back to the legislature with suggestions. However, if the legislature passes the bill again without modifications, the Governor is bound to give assent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reserve the Bill for Presidential Assent: <\/strong>If the bill is contrary to the Constitution, affects the powers of the High Court, or contradicts central laws, the Governor may reserve it for the President\u2019s decision.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 201: <\/strong>If a bill is reserved for the president\u2019s consideration, the President has two options;\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Give Assent:<\/strong> The bill becomes law.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Withhold Assent or Direct Reconsideration: <\/strong>The President may send the bill back to the State Legislature for reconsideration. If the Legislature re-passes the bill, the President is not bound to give assent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are the concerns?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Current ambiguity:<\/strong> Both provisions use the phrase <strong>\u201cas soon as possible\u201d, <\/strong>which has led to delays in several Opposition-ruled States.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Delays in Bill Assent:<\/strong> Kerala submitted that eight Bills had been pending with its Governor for <strong>7 to 23 months.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Similar complaints were raised by Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Punjab, and West Bengal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Instances of prolonged delays<\/strong> and the use of the \u2018pocket veto\u2019 (withholding assent without returning the bill) have raised concerns about the Governor\u2019s impartiality and adherence to constitutional norms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Judicial Interventions<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Shamsher Singh Case (1974): <\/strong>The Supreme Court ruled that the Governor must act on the advice of the Council of Ministers in most cases.<br>&#8211; <strong>Rameshwar Prasad Case (2006):<\/strong> The court held that a Governor\u2019s refusal to give assent can be challenged in court and overturned if found unconstitutional.<br>&#8211; <strong>Nabam Rebia v. Deputy Speaker Case (2016): <\/strong>Affirmed that the Governor\u2019s discretionary powers are subject to judicial review, preventing arbitrary decision-making.<br>&#8211; <strong>Punjab Case (2023): <\/strong>Governor is an unelected authority and cannot stall the legislative process.<br>1. Withholding assent requires following constitutional procedures.<br>&#8211; <strong>Supreme Court Observation (2024): <\/strong>The Governor\u2019s role is primarily ceremonial, and he should not obstruct the governance of an elected state government.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Strengthening cooperative federalism: <\/strong>Institutional mechanisms, such as regular consultation between Governors and State governments, could reduce friction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Revisiting Sarkaria and Punchhi Commission recommendations: <\/strong>Both commissions stressed the need for Governors to act impartially and within constitutional limits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/governors-must-act-as-true-guides-and-philosophers-to-states-cji\/article70030184.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, observed that Governors must act as \u201ctrue guides and philosophers\u201d to State governments.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Supreme Court observation<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Governor\u2019s role: The CJI emphasized that Governors are part of the legislature and share responsibility for ensuring governance functions smoothly.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Impact on democracy: Prolonged inaction on Bills undermines the mandate of elected legislatures and disturbs the balance of federalism.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/10-09-2025\/governors-role-guides-philosophers-states\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53625"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53829,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53625\/revisions\/53829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}