The Hindu : National : Evolve policy on choice of Governors: SC

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Wednesday, Jan 25, 2006

National

National

Evolve policy on choice of Governors: SC

J. Venkatesan

Suggests common parameters applicable and acceptable to all political parties

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday suggested that political parties debate and evolve a national policy on choosing a non-partisan Governor, with common parameters applicable and acceptable to all parties.

In a majority judgment on the Bihar Assembly dissolution case, the Bench headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal said the criteria fixed by the Sarkaria Commission for appointment of a person as Governor specified that "he should be eminent in some walk of life; he should be a person from outside the State; he should be a detached figure and not intimately connected with the local politics of the State and he should be a person who has not taken too great a part in politics generally and particularly in the recent past." It pointed out "the criteria has been observed in almost total breach by all political parties. It is seen that one day a person is in active politics in as much as he holds the office of the Chief Minister or Minister or a party post and almost on the following day, in any case, soon thereafter, the same person is appointed as the Governor in another State with hardly any cooling period. Ordinarily, it is difficult to expect detachment from party politics from such a person while performing the constitutional functions as Governor."

The Bench said: "On this issue, we would like to say no more and leave this aspect to the wisdom of the political parties and their leaders to discuss and debate and arrive at, if possible, a national policy with some common minimum parameters."

Representing the minority view, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan said: "It was clear that not a single political party or alliance was in a position to form the Government and when the Assembly was dissolved after waiting for a reasonable period, the same cannot be challenged on the ground that the Governor in his report had stated that some horse-trading is going on and some MLAs are being won over by allurements. These are certainly facts to be taken into consideration by the Governor."

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