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!
