 Have you ever wondered why the office of governors in India has been provided with so much so powers so that he or she can even Indefinitely sit on the bills passed by the state legislative assemblies To know answer for this question and also to know more about the evolution of the office of governor from the periods of British India to the present day watch this video fully See between Regulating Act 1773 and Charter Act 1833 the colonial government was centralizing the administration of British India Regulating Act 1773 Transformed the office of governor of Bengal into governor-general of Bengal making Lord Varanastings as the first governor-general of Bengal Also note that this particular act made the governors of the presidencies like Bombay and Madras Subordinate to the governor-general of Bengal the centralization process culminated in the Charter Act 1833 where the office of governor-general of Bengal was transformed into the office of governor-general of India Here note that Lord William Bentick was the first governor-general of India The 1833 Charter Act even removed the legislative powers of the governors of the other two presidencies But after 1857 when the crown took control of India Decentralization process started Government of India Act 1858 placed the governor under the supervision of the viceroy It was Indian Councils Act 1861 that restored the legislative powers of the governors of the other presidencies That is Bombay and Madras Then a major reform was brought about by the government of India Act 1919 pay attention here It introduced the concept of hierarchy in the provinces see in hierarchy The provincial list was divided into reserved and transferred list The governor of the province had control over the subjects in the reserved list and the power of the council of ministers Responsible to the provincial legislatures was only limited to the transferred list The governor of the provinces also had veto power over the decision of the council So ultimately hierarchy reduced the power of the elected representatives and increased the power of the Unelected governor who was appointed by the crown the reforms ended with the government of India Act 1935 in the government of India Act 1935 hierarchy was abolished in the provincial levels And it was finally introduced in the central level So for around three decades hierarchy was present either at the provincial level or at the central level See our national leaders experience the bitter experience of hierarchy The leaders argued that how does a governor have precedence over the elected representatives of the people? It was due to such bitter experience that there were fierce battle surrounding the office of governor while the constitution was being framed Even after such lengthy debates the constitution assembly moved forward with the post of governor and even offered the post of governor Some discretionary powers here note that the constitution makers who supported the post of governor Mentioned two points in favor of it. The first point is that there were no competent legislators in the states This makes union government to appoint a well qualified governor necessary for the proper functioning of the state apparatus See this statement was particularly related to the period of immediate post-independent India Now coming to the next point India gained independence with the bitter experience of partition and the communal violence associated with it So the constitution makers believed that some centralization is necessary for a nascent democracy like India To ensure territorial integrity and prevent further vulcanization of the country By mentioning these two points the constitution makers defended the post of governor and his discretionary powers But whether these two points are still valid is a big question So till now in our discussion We saw about the evolution of the position of governor and the need for the office of governor in the post-independent India See article 164 class 1 states that the governor shall appoint the chief minister and all other ministers Are appointed by the governor on the advice of the chief minister This particular article also mentions that the ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the governor Article 164 1 must be read along with article 163 Article 163 class 1 says that the governor should act in accordance with aid and advice of the council of ministers Headed by the chief minister So during the pleasure of the governor mentioned in article 164 class 1 is in reality the pleasure of the chief minister The governor cannot use the provision under article 164 class 1 to dismiss a ministry While the chief minister still enjoys a majority in the legislature So basically the governor is only the title or head like the president of India But unlike our president the governor has some constitutional discretion According to article 163 class 2 the governor can act at his discretion in certain matters What this actually means is that governor is generally bound by the cabinet decision Except when he has a legitimate right to invoke his discretion See earlier during this discussion. I asked a question, right? I asked whether two points that necessitated the creation of the position of governor and Discretion are still valid in the 21st century The answer for that question is no those two points are obsolete now The states now have competent legislators and the issue of succession from the Indian Union is practically non-existent now So the position of the governor should not be used to affect the day-to-day functioning of the state and the governor's Must act in such a way to further the spirit of federalism This particular sentiment was highlighted by justice We are Krishna here in Shamsher Singh versus state of Punjab 1974 case the justice said that even though powers and functions of president and governors are mentioned in the Constitution the actual business must be carried out by the council of ministers who are directly elected by people's vote and Responsible to the legislature So basically president and governors should not overextend their position for the democracy to function well Through this discussion, we learned about the evolution of office of governor from the period of British India to the post Independent India. We also saw about the need for the office of governor during the immediate period after the independence To watch more interesting content like this, please subscribe to Shankara Ace Academy