Narendra Modi Govt Must Now Desist Using Governors As Its Pawns

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

In the light of the unanimous judgement of a constitutional bench of the Supreme court of India delivered on May 11, 2023on powers of Elected government of Delhi, Narendra Modi government must now desist from – usurping the legislative and executive powers of the states and using governors as its pawns.

However, it is just unfortunate that the Centre is still sticking to its old ways of functioning, against which the AAP led Delhi Government has approached the Supreme Court today, only the next day of the judgement, claiming interference – and possible contempt of court – by the centre in the transfer of a senior government official. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud is now to constitute a bench to hear this matter of contempt next week.

CM Arvind Kejriwal led Elected government AAP in Delhi had gone to court in 2018with a complaint that their several legislative and executive powers had been taken over by the Lieutenant Governor and by proxy by the Centre, which the Constitution Bench found to be true and ruled in favour of the state government restoring its powers, which is a great humiliation for the Centre.

This judgement is significant because almost all opposition ruled states have similar issues with the Centre ever since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India in 2014. As the Lieutenant Governor in Delhi is has been reduced to a mere pawn of the Centre, Governors in other states too have been misused in similar fashion in the entire range of executive and legislative powers of the states from creating hurdle in day-to-day administration to toppling the elected governments or dissolving the legislatures. The Centre has hijacked several powers of the states undermining not only democracy but also federal structure of the country, and still trying to do so.

The most common is the interference through concurrent list of the Constitution of India, in which the Centre has been alleged of taking over the power of states in the matter of proper governance. In case of Delhi, the Constitution Bench has clarified, “The executive power of Union in a state over matters on which both union and states can legislate is limited to ensure that governance of state is not taken over by the union. This would completely abrogate the federal system of governance and the principle of representative democracy.”

While elaborating the importance of the Federal structure of the county, the Constitution Bench also said that it had to be ensured that governance of state is not taken over by the Union adding, “The principle of democracy and federalism from a part of basic structure. Federalism ensures survival of diverse interests and accommodate diverse needs.”

The Centre has also been alleged of playing politics in the states through centrally sponsored schemes, even when the subjects are in the state or Panchayati Raj lists. Resources are alleged to be arbitrarily allocated and disbursed too late to the discomfort of the ruling establishments in the states, leading to maladministration. It weakens the states, which is in best interest of the Modi and BJP’s philosophy of stronger Centre, but against the basic constitutional spirit of federalism.

Over half a dozen elected governments in the states have been toppled in the last nine years of Modi rule by misusing the Governors and effecting defection, the latest being in the Maharashtra. Winners in election were prevented in ruling the states which is in spirit anti-democratic technically made legal by political manoeuvring. Further it is violation of constitutional federalism. The Gross misuse of Governor was seen in case of Jammu and Kashmir, which after removal of the Article 370, lost its status of even a state. In most of the cases Governors just functioned as pawns of the centre in destabilising the states and their elected governments. Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal had serious issues with their governors.

How grossly wrong the Centre has been can be just imagined by just going through the Constitution Bench judgement in case of Delhi which said, “the Lieutenant Governor shall be bound by the decisions of Government of National Territory Delhi.”The Bench reiterated in the light of the Constitution of India and earlier Supreme Court judgement that “Lieutenant Governor is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers of NCT Delhi.

Power over services have also been a matter of conflict between the states and the Centre, since many central officers posted with the state governments create problems in their administration. In the present judgement the Bench has ruled that the elected state government will have executive and legislative powers over the administrative services working in their jurisdiction, who have been otherwise controlled by the Union Ministry of Home.

“The ideal conclusion would be that government of NCT Delhi out to have control over services … such as IAS or Joint Cadre Services, which are relevant for the implementation of policies and the vision of the NCT Delhi, in terms of day-to-day administration,” the court said, adding, “If a democratically elected government is not given the power to control the officers, the principle of triple chain of accountability will be redundant. If the officers stop reporting to the Ministers or don not abide by their directions, the principle of collective responsibility is affected… If services are excluded from legislative and executive domain, the ministers would be excluded from controlling the civil servants who are to implement the executive decision.”

Since India is a federal, secular, and democratic state, it must be followed in words and spirit. Modi government must not be allowed to do otherwise according to their whims and fancies. (IPA Service)

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