Federalism Essay

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APPOINTMENT OF GOVERNORS AGAINST THE CONCEPT FEDERALISM Nitin Goklani & Tanwi Pareek Federalism is a political concept in which the sovereignty is constitutionally divided among the Union governing authority and its constituent political units in such a way that they are independent of each other in their own spheres and not subordinate to one another. Now what we see in India is that the constitution is not strictly Federal. According to various critiques, the Constitution has many features which portray that it is Federal with a strong union and the appointment of the governor is one such characteristic. The Governor is the Constitutional head of the state whose role is restricted to act upon the advice of the state cabinet. When we read …show more content…

For example between 1966 and 1977, Indira Gandhi imposed President 's rule 39 times in opposition-ruled states. In retaliation, the Janata Party government imposed President 's rule 11 times between 1977 and 1979 in Congress-ruled states. This is how the tussle goes on between the parties and there is no end to this war.4 Moreover, irrespective of the guidelines and recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission, the party in power at the Centre does not follow any uniform policy in regard to the appointment of the Governor. Former Union Law Minister in UPA Government, Sh. H.R Bharadwaj was sworn-in as Governor of Karnataka on June 29, 2009.5 Former Orissa CM, Shri Janaki Ballah Patnaik was sworn-in as Governor of Assam on December 11, 2009. He had served as CM of Orissa for two terms.6 Recently, Sh. Shiv Raj Patil was Sworn-in as Governor of Punjab on January 22, 2010.7 He was the Home Minister in UPA Government and resigned from this post after terrorist attack in Mumbai. M.O.H. Farook was sworn-in as the Governor of Jharkhand on January 22, 2010. He had served as Speaker of Punducherry from 1964 to 1967 and as Chief Minister from 1967-68, 1969-74 and 1985 to