The Governor of a state may exercise discretionary powers when 1. he or she is not convinced by the advice of the Council of Ministers 2. the Constitution requires him/her to act in his/her discretion in certain matters 3. he or she is appointed as the administrator of an adjoining Union Territory Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Correct — A, 1, 2 and 3. The second and third statements are plain constitutional text. Article 163(1) makes the Governor act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers except where the Constitution requires him to act in his discretion, which is statement 2. Article 239(2) allows a Governor to be appointed administrator of an adjoining Union Territory, and in that capacity he acts independently of his State Council of Ministers, which is statement 3. Statement 1 is looser in its wording, but it is carried by Article 163(2) — if a question arises whether a matter falls within the Governor's discretion, his own decision is final and cannot be called in question. A Governor who is not persuaded by his ministers is therefore the judge of whether he must follow them, which is a position the President does not occupy.

• (b)1 and 2 only — Leaves out the Union Territory case, which is the most clear-cut of the three. Article 239(2) expressly puts the Governor acting as administrator outside the reach of his State ministers.
• (c)2 and 3 only — Drops the statement about ministerial advice. Article 163(2) makes the Governor the sole judge of what falls within his discretion, so his own view of the advice is decisive in a way the option denies.
• (d)3 only — Reduces the Governor's discretion to a single situation and ignores Article 163(1) itself, which is the provision that creates the discretion in the first place.

Textbooks divide the Governor's discretion in two. Constitutional discretion is what the text names — reserving a bill for the President under Article 200, recommending a proclamation under Article 356, exercising functions as administrator of a Union Territory, and certain special responsibilities in the tribal and hill areas. Situational discretion is what circumstance forces — appointing a Chief Minister when no party has a clear majority, dismissing a ministry that has lost the confidence of the House, or dissolving an Assembly where no alternative government is possible.

Statement 1 is the one worth reading carefully, because being unconvinced is not by itself a source of power and the statement does not say it is. What Article 163(2) does is remove the question from the courts. The Governor decides whether a matter is one for his discretion, and that decision is final, so on a contested matter he cannot be compelled in the way the President can under Article 74, where the advice of the Union Council of Ministers becomes binding on reconsideration. That asymmetry between the two offices is the point of the whole item, and the standard follow-up in a mains answer is that the discretion was never meant to be a parallel executive. As of the 2020 exam that argument had already been narrowed by the courts; since then it has been narrowed further, with the Supreme Court holding that a Governor cannot sit on bills passed by a State legislature without acting on them.

• Article 163(1) binds the Governor to ministerial advice except where the Constitution requires him to act in his discretion.
• Article 163(2) makes the Governor's own decision final on whether a matter falls within his discretion.
• Article 239(2) allows a Governor to be appointed administrator of an adjoining Union Territory, where he acts independently of his State ministers.
• Constitutional discretion includes reserving a bill under Article 200 and reporting under Article 356; situational discretion covers appointing a Chief Minister in a hung House.
• The President has no equivalent of Article 163(2); under Article 74 reconsidered advice binds him.

• Treating discretion as unlimited because Article 163(2) puts it beyond the courts on the threshold question.
• Forgetting the Union Territory administrator provision, which is easy to miss and often decides the code.
• Assuming the President and the Governor stand in the same relation to ministerial advice.

Statement-and-code items on the Governor usually pair one loosely worded proposition with two textual ones. Find the article behind each statement rather than judging it on how it sounds.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under which Article may a Governor be appointed administrator of an adjoining Union Territory?

  • (a)Article 163
  • (b)Article 200
  • (c)Article 239
  • (d)Article 356

  Answer(c) Article 239 — sub-clause (2), and in that role the Governor acts independently of his State Council of Ministers.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is NOT a discretionary power of the Governor of a State?

  • (a)Reserving a bill for the consideration of the President
  • (b)Recommending a proclamation under Article 356
  • (c)Appointing the Advocate General of the State
  • (d)Appointing a Chief Minister when no party has a clear majority

  Answer(c) Appointing the Advocate General of the State — that appointment is made on the advice of the Council of Ministers.