SC for national policy on Governor appointment

The Supreme Court judgment on Bihar Assembly dissolution has called for a 8220;national policy8221; for the appointment and conduct of Governors. Quoting the Sarkaria Commission recommendations in this respect, the judgment stated that for appointment of a person as Governor, criteria should be that he should be eminent in some walk of life, hail from outside the state, detached and not too intimately connected with local politics of the state, and should be a person who has not taken too great a part in politics generally and particularly in the recent past.

It added that act of the Governor in recommending dissolution of Assembly should be only with the sole object of preservation of the Constitution and not promotion of political interest of one or the other party. The apex bench lamented that 8220;unfortunately, it has been totally breach by all political parties. It is seen that one day a person is in active politics, viz. holding office of Chief Minister or minister or a party post, and almost on the following day he/she is appointed as Governor of another state with hardly any cooling period. Ordinarily, it is difficult to expect detachment from party politics from such a person while performing functions of a governor, the bench pointed out further.