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MP Assembly, Monsoon session and an ex-bureaucrat's letter to Governor Ramnaresh Yadav


Point-Counterpoint


I read a news-item in Dainik Bhaskar (July 31) quoting at length a letter written to Madhya Pradesh Governor Ramnaresh Yadav by retired IAS officer M.N. Buch. He has emphasised that not signing on the dotted line to prorogue the Monsoon session goes against Article 174 of Constitution. Mr. Buch, by centering his entire argument on the Constitutional provision that the Governor should act on the advice of the Council of Ministers, has conveyed that he is either ignorant about the Governor’s discretionary powers or is deliberately trying to keep this Constitutional provision under wraps. Why he has done that—I don't know. I think it is relevant to quote Article 163 on Council of Ministers to aid and advise Governor. It says:

 (1) There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his functions, except in so far as he is by or under this Constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion. 

(2) If any question arises whether any matter is or is not a matter as respects which the Governor is by or under this Constitution required to act in his discretion, the decision of the Governor in his discretion shall be final, and the validity of anything done by the Governor shall not be called in question on the ground that he ought or ought 
not to have acted in his discretion. 

(3) The question whether any, and if so what, advice. 

Hence the Governor reserves certain powers to keep the President informed and to give him the opportunity to see that State Governments are acting under the rules according to the Constitution. Governor is the executive head of the state and the discretionary powers conferred in the office of the Governor under Article 163(1) & (2), give him the power to discharge certain functions in his discretion. While discharging this function he is not required to seek the aid or advice of his Council of Ministers. for example the governor does not require to be advised by the Council of Ministers when he recommends dismissal of a government on being convinced that there is breakdown of the Constitutional machinery in the State.

Importantly, the Constitution assigns wider powers to the Governor to act in his discretion in important matters and the validity of anything done by Governor cannot be be challenged on the ground that he should or should not have acted in his discretion in important matters. 

Mr. Buch has rounded up his argument  by telling Mr. Yadav that he has been the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and in that capacity even he would have expected the Governor to act on his advice. --This cannot be a parting shot from someone who understands the letter and spirit of the Indian Constitution.

If Mr. Buch had witnessed the House proceedings on July 11, when the Monsoon session was abruptly adjourned sine die and the no-confidence motion moved by the Congress members was bulldozed and buried without a debate or discussion, or if he had taken the pains to go through the Assembly proceedings, he would have refrained from stretching his neck out on this vital issue. 

Mr. Buch has selectively picked from Article 174 to drive home his point that the Governor is bound to prorogue the House.

Under Article 174 on Sessions of the State Legislature, prorogation and dissolution-

1) The Governor shall from time to time summon the House or each House of the Legislature of the state to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session.

2) The Governor may from time to time -(a) prorogue the House or either House;(b) dissolve the Legislative Assembly.

It is also important to note Article 175 regarding Right of Governor to address and send messages to the House or Houses. it says-

1) The Governor may address the Legislative Assembly or, in the case of a State having a Legislative Council, either House of the Legislature of the State, or both Houses assembled together, and may for that purpose require the attendance of members.

2) The Governor may send messages to the House or Houses of the Legislature of the State, whether with respect of a Bill then pending in the Legislature or otherwise, and a House to which any message is so sent shall with all convenient dispatch consider any matter required by the message to be taken into consideration.

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