Published Paper Details:

The governor's job and powers have become contentious in recent times. This, of course, corresponds with the rise to power of a centrist party that has a clear majority. The governors of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Maharashtra, and of course, West Bengal have all been at the centre of controversy in recent years. However, they have done nothing to elevate the stature of their respective offices. We were mistaken if we imagined that the frequent and heated debates about the legality of governors' activities in the 1960s and 1970s would have unobtrusively ushered in some beneficial norms for the decades to come. It has been challenging to change the widespread public perception of state governors as "an agent of the centre." The current controversies have centred on the following topics: the selection of the chief minister; the determination of the timing for proving legislative majority; the demand for information about day-to-day administration; the apparent delay in giving assent to bills or reserving bills for the President; comments critical of specific state government policies; and the exercise of the governor's powers as chancellor of state universities. This paper aims to deconstruct the power game between the state and the centre in the context of constitutional legality.