Against the backdrop of political crisis in Karnataka, constitutional experts on Friday expressed divergent views on the power of a governor to issue directions to an assembly speaker.
Against the backdrop of political crisis in Karnataka, constitutional experts on Friday expressed divergent views on the power of a governor to issue directions to an assembly speaker.
Former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash Kashyap said under Article 175 of the Constitution, the governor has "every right" to send a message to the House, and the legislature is duty-bound to take action on it with "all convenient dispatch" (at the earliest).
The constitutional expert said Article 168 makes it clear that the governor is part of the state legislature.
But another former Lok Sabha secretary general P D T Acharya said in Karnataka's case, the state governor has "stretched" the definition of Article 175 of the Constitution.
"The Governor may send messages to the House or Houses of the Legislature of the state, whether with respect to a Bill then pending in the legislature or otherwise...," states the Article.
Acharya said the "message" governor can send is with regard to bills only. "The words 'or otherwise' cannot be stretched regrading how the proceedings are held," he told PTI.
1. 'Extraordinary step'
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"It is an extraordinary step that the governor has taken. Ultimately the court will decide whether the governor has this right or not.... The Speaker has the right over proceedings of the House. No other authority has any control over the Speaker so far as the conduct of proceedings is concerned," he said.
Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala has issued a second deadline to complete the trust vote process in the state assembly on Friday itself.
The governor's second letter to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy came after the assembly failed to meet his first deadline to complete the trust vote process by 1.30 pm.
2. What SC said in 2016
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As the Karnataka governor gave two deadlines to the chief minister to prove his majority, a 2016 Supreme Court verdict assumes significance in which it had held that it is not within the governor's domain to interfere with the functions of the Speaker as he is "neither a guide, nor a mentor" to the latter.
In 2016, the apex court had held as unconstitutional the decision of Arunachal Pradesh governor J P Rajkhowa to advance the floor test.
Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala set two deadlines for the H D Kumaraswamy government to prove majority on the floor of the assembly by Friday.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by the then CJI J S Khehar had restored the dismissed Congress government led by Nabam Tuki in Arunachal Pradesh and had dealt in details the power of the governor under the Constitution.
"It is not within his domain to interfere with the functions of the Speaker, as the Governor is neither a guide, nor a mentor to the Speaker and has no role whatsoever in the removal of Speaker or Deputy Speaker...Both the Governor and the Speaker have independent constitutional responsibilities," the bench had said.
3. Governor can't be overriding authority
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It had held that the governor cannot be an "overriding authority" over the people's representatives and there can be no interference at his behest so long as the democratic process in the assembly functioned through a majority government.
"It is not within the realm of the governor to embroil himself in any political thicket. The governor must remain aloof from any disagreement, discord, disharmony, discontent or dissension, within individual political parties.
"The activities within a political party, confirming turbulence, or unrest within its ranks, are beyond the concern of the governor. The governor must keep clear of any political horse-trading, and even unsavoury political manipulations, irrespective of the degree of their ethical repulsiveness," it had said.
