CHENNAI: The high-level committee on Union-State relations under Justice Kurian Joseph has recommended that the office of the governor be made a non-renewable five-year term and that appointments be made from names approved by the State Legislative Assembly.
The panel also said governors should not reserve Bills relating to State List subjects for the President’s consideration and called for clear timelines and constitutional safeguards to prevent delays in granting assent.
The 10-chapter report contains a section titled ‘Rethinking the Office of the Governor’, proposing structural changes to strengthen federal balance and ensure accountability in gubernatorial functioning.
The committee suggested restructuring the appointment process by recommending that the state government propose a panel of three eminent persons from outside the state.
The panel should be approved by a majority of the total membership of the Legislative Assembly, after which the President should be constitutionally bound to appoint one of the three names. The panel has sought amendments to Article 155 of the Constitution, which currently provides that governors are appointed by the President.
In another significant recommendation, the committee said the Chief Justice of the High Court should act as governor upon completion of the incumbent’s term until a successor assumes office, mirroring vacancy arrangements. The suggestion assumes relevance amid debates over governors continuing beyond their original tenure.
The committee also proposed a removal mechanism. It recommended that a governor may be removed through a resolution passed by the state Assembly and that the President should be constitutionally bound to act on such a resolution within 14 days.
The panel laid down eligibility criteria for appointment, stating that the governor must be an outsider to the State, an eminent person in a recognised field of public life and must not have held any office in a political party or under the executive, legislature or judiciary during the preceding five years.
On legislative powers, the report proposed strict timelines for granting assent to Bills passed by state legislatures. According to the recommendations, the governor must either grant assent or return a Bill to the Assembly within 15 days.
If the Assembly passes the Bill again, assent must be granted within another 15 days without exception.The Justice Kurian Joseph committee has recommended that no Bill relating to State List subjects should be reserved for the President’s consideration.
In respect of Bills dealing with Concurrent List subjects, the governor should not withhold or reserve assent unless they are clearly repugnant to existing Union laws. Where a Bill is reserved for the President’s consideration, the decision must be communicated to the State government within 60 days.
Emphasising constitutional propriety, the report stated that no executive authority — whether the governor or the President — should withhold assent indefinitely to a Bill duly passed by the legislature.
The panel also framed guidelines for government formation in the event of a fractured mandate. It recommended that when no party commands a majority, the governor should invite the single largest party that demonstrates assured support and avoid relying on personal judgement, informal communication or extraneous sources.
The committee said rival claims must be tested only on the floor of the Assembly, ordinarily within seven days and extendable only in exceptional circumstances for recorded reasons. It stressed that no artificial delay or manipulation of the floor test schedule should be permitted.
According to the report, the governor may order a floor test suo motu only when a no-confidence motion is pending or when credible and objective evidence establishes loss of majority. If a government loses majority, the governor must explore all viable alternatives before recommending dissolution of the Assembly. Dissolution should not be used to pre-empt a floor test, which remains the sole determinant of legislative confidence.
The committee also stressed that governors must uphold the dignity of the office and refrain from public criticism of the state government, its policies or the legislature. It further recommended discontinuing the governor’s special address at the commencement of each legislative year.
The report underlined that both the President and governors derive authority from the Constitution and function as custodians of constitutional governance.
Part I of the report runs into 369 pages and covers decentralisation, State autonomy, constitutional amendments, language policy, delimitation, elections, education, health and the GST framework.
On language policy, the panel recommended continuation of English as an official language for communication between the Union and states. In education, it proposed granting autonomy to the top 100 universities and higher educational institutions from regulatory bodies such as the UGC, with additional institutions to be included over the next decade.