Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Why is Sheila now in Kerala?

Mrs. Sheila Dikshit has been appointed as the Governor of the state of Kerala replacing Shriman Nikhil Kumar. Tough the Constitution of India provides for a term of five years for the Governors it does not provide for a fixed term of office or a security of tenure. This is because the five year term is subject to the pleasure of the President. Also the Honourable Supreme Court has made the pleasure of the President non justifiable, which means none can approach the courts and file a complaint regarding a Governor’s appointment or replacement.

The Governors are entitled to a lot of immunities. They enjoy personal immunity from legal liability for their official acts. While in office, they are immune from any criminal proceedings. They cannot be arrested or imprisoned. Such immunities are given to Governors because it is a highly dignified Constitutional post.  It is equivalent to the President save in some like that of military or emergency powers. 

The Governors being appointed by the President, which in effect means by the Union Cabinet, are in most cases, a gift in return to their favours to the government. Post retirement from bureaucracy or if some politician seems too old to be in active politics they are offered Governorship. It is mostly the ‘loyal’ politicians or bureaucrats who get this cherished gift. Harmless and ‘yes-sir’ kind are offered this gift with much ease. Nepotism is a almost like a norm in such appointments.

All said, what if Governorship is offered keeping in mind the immunities available to this respectable Constitutional post and hence to protect the ‘loyalists’ from criminal proceedings? Disgust can be the only feeling that can be expressed. It becomes a clear case of disrespect to the Constitutional post of the Governor and also to that of the Constitution of India itself because the Union Cabinet takes such a decision knowing the loopholes embedded in it and also exploiting the respectable Supreme Court’s ruling that the removal/replacement/appointment of the Governors cannot be taken to the courts.

This is why Sheila is in Kerala now. The just resigned Delhi government headed by Shriman Arvind Kejriwal had registered an FIR against her in connection with the Common Wealth Games Scam. On the eighth of December last year she lost terribly in the Delhi elections and lost her Chief Ministership. Post declaration of the election results, all these months she was in self-set asylum in Delhi. Her close relations to Soniaji Gandhi and Rahulji Gandhi are well known. With the FIR lodged against her and her knowing well that she will not be able to come out clean from the charges of corruption filed against her, she, the mother-son duo and the Congress party have decided to exploit the Constitutional immunity provided to the post of Governor. Once she takes oath as the Governor of Kerala, the case of corruption against her cannot be proceeded with.

How will the Congress party, which boasts of its anti-corruption credentials despite being ridden with scams, justify this appointment? It is not legally binding on them to justify this but to the people of the country, what will it say? The day she takes oath as the Governor of Kerala will be a black day for our democracy and the Congress party shall never be forgotten for such brazen exploitation of the Constitutional procedures.


After taking oath Sheilaji will be Hon’ble Her Highness Sheila Dikshit. What a pity!