The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that a Chief Minister’s exclusive powers cannot be pre-empted by the Governor, who should use his powers in a fair and limited manner for the sake of survival of democracy.
The remarks came during a daylong hearing on the Arunachal Pradesh political crisis before a Constitution Bench led by Justice J.S. Khehar, which is also looking into whether there was any relevant material to justify the subsequent imposition of emergency in the State by the President.
Asking whether the Governor had acted on his “whims” by calling for an Assembly session in December 2015 when the session was scheduled on January 14, 2016, the Bench wondered whether this amount to interference in the functioning of the State’s legislative body.
“The Governor cannot pre-empt the powers exclusively granted by the Constitution to the Chief Minister and his Council,” the Bench said.
