Given below are two statements, one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other as Reason (R). Assertion (A) : According to the Constitution of India, the same person cannot function as the Governor of two or more States at the same time. Reason (R) : Article 153 of the Indian Constitution states that there shall be a Governor for each State. Select the correct answer from the codes given below :
- (a)Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A).
- (b)(A) is false, but (R) is true.
- (c)Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
- (d)(A) is true, but (R) is false.
Correct — B, (A) is false, but (R) is true. Article 153 reads in full: 'There shall be a Governor for each State: Provided that nothing in this article shall prevent the appointment of the same person as Governor for two or more States.' The Reason quotes the main clause word for word, so the Reason is true. The Assertion asserts the exact opposite of the proviso, so the Assertion is false — the Constitution does not merely tolerate a shared Governorship, it authorises it expressly, and it does so inside the very Article the Assertion relies on. The proviso was added by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956, the amendment that carried the States Reorganisation Act of the same year into the constitutional text, and the drafters built the consequences in at the same time: Article 158(3A), also inserted by the Seventh Amendment, provides that 'Where the same person is appointed as Governor of two or more States, the emoluments and allowances payable to the Governor shall be allocated among the States in such proportion as the President may by order determine.' A clause about how to split one Governor's salary between several States would be meaningless if shared Governorships were forbidden. In practice the proviso is used constantly — whenever a Raj Bhavan falls vacant, a neighbouring State's Governor ordinarily holds additional charge until a fresh appointment is made. Since the Assertion is false, the code is (b), and the question of whether (R) explains (A) never arises.
- (a)Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A). — Fails at the first step. The Reason is true, but the Assertion is not, so no verdict on the explanatory link is needed at all. Notice, though, how carefully the pairing is built to mislead: the Reason quotes only the opening words of Article 153 and stops before the colon. Read in isolation, 'there shall be a Governor for each State' does look as though it entails 'no one person may be Governor of two States' — one office, one holder. It would entail that, if the Article ended there. It does not; the proviso follows immediately and reverses the inference.
- (c)Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A). — The single most tempting option and the one a candidate picks who knows the first line of Article 153 and not the rest of it. The two statements do sit in an apparent explanatory relation, which is what makes the trap work. But the relation is irrelevant once the Assertion is shown to be false, and the proviso to Article 153 shows exactly that: the same person may be appointed Governor for two or more States. Article 158(3A) then goes further and legislates for the money in that situation, which puts the matter beyond argument.
- (d)(A) is true, but (R) is false. — Both halves are wrong, which makes this the weakest option in the set. The Assertion is false for the reason given — the proviso to Article 153 permits precisely what it denies. And the Reason is not merely true but is a direct quotation: 'There shall be a Governor for each State' is the literal opening clause of Article 153. A candidate choosing (d) has inverted both judgements.
The State executive is set up by Articles 153 to 167 of Part VI. Article 153 creates the office — one Governor for each State, with an express proviso permitting one person to be Governor of two or more States. Article 154 vests the executive power of the State in the Governor, to be exercised by him directly or through officers subordinate to him. Article 155 provides that the Governor is appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal, which is the structural difference from the President, who is elected. Article 156 makes the Governor hold office during the pleasure of the President, prescribes a five-year term, and lets him continue in office until his successor enters upon it. Article 157 fixes the qualifications: a citizen of India who has completed 35 years of age. Article 158 sets the conditions of the office, including clause (3A) on splitting the emoluments of a Governor who serves more than one State and clause (4), which bars any diminution of those emoluments during his term.
Assertion-Reason items in polity are usually constructed around a provision that carries an exception, and the Reason is written to quote the rule while the trap hides in the exception. The defence is a habit: finish the Article before answering. Part VI is full of provisions whose plain reading is reversed a line later. Article 153's proviso permits a shared Governorship. Article 156 states a five-year term and then makes the office hold during the President's pleasure and allows continuation beyond five years until a successor arrives — the reason UPSC's 1995 item on Article 156 has the answer 'neither of the two deductions follows'. Article 239(2), in an entirely different Part, separately allows the President to appoint the Governor of a State as the administrator of an adjoining Union territory, which is a different arrangement from the Article 153 proviso and a standing source of confusion: the Governor of Punjab serving as Administrator of Chandigarh is an Article 239(2) case, not an Article 153 case. Read together, these provisions show an office designed to be flexible — which is precisely what the Assertion denies.
- Article 153 in full: 'There shall be a Governor for each State: Provided that nothing in this article shall prevent the appointment of the same person as Governor for two or more States.' The proviso was added by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956.
- Article 158(3A), also a Seventh Amendment insertion: 'Where the same person is appointed as Governor of two or more States, the emoluments and allowances payable to the Governor shall be allocated among the States in such proportion as the President may by order determine.'
- Article 155: the Governor of a State is appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal. Article 156: he holds office during the pleasure of the President, for a term of five years, and continues in office until his successor enters upon the office.
- Article 239(2) permits the President to appoint the Governor of a State as the administrator of an adjoining Union territory — a distinct arrangement from a shared Governorship under the proviso to Article 153, and one that is frequently confused with it.
- Article 157: to be eligible for appointment as Governor a person must be a citizen of India and must have completed 35 years of age. Article 158(4) bars any diminution of the Governor's emoluments and allowances during his term of office.
- Stopping at the main clause of an Article. The proviso to Article 153 reverses the plain reading, and the Reason in this item is deliberately written to quote only the main clause.
- Confusing a shared Governorship under the proviso to Article 153 with a Governor holding charge of a Union territory under Article 239(2) — the Governor of Punjab as Administrator of Chandigarh is the standard example of the latter.
- Treating the five-year term in Article 156 as secure. The Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President and may go earlier, and may equally continue beyond five years until a successor enters upon the office.
UPPSC favours Assertion-Reason items in the State-executive block where the whole trap is a proviso or an exception attached to the Article being quoted. UPSC asks the same material as statement pairs on the Governor's discretion, immunity, emoluments and additional charges. Either way the examinable unit is the text of Articles 153 to 158, provisos included.
Article 156 of the Constitution of India provides that a Governor shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office. Which of the following can be deduced from this? I. No Governor can be removed from office till completion of his term. II. No Governor can continue in office beyond a period of five years. Select the correct answer from the codes given below:
- (a) I only
- (b) II only
- (c) Both I and II
- (d) Neither I nor II
Answer(d) Neither I nor II
The identical lesson one Article later. There, quoting Article 156's five-year term and stopping produces two deductions that the rest of the Article destroys; here, quoting Article 153's main clause and stopping produces an Assertion that the proviso destroys. Finish the Article before you answer.
Consider the following statements : 1. The Governor of Punjab is concurrently the Administrator of Chandigarh. 2. The Governor of Kerala is concurrently the Administrator of Lakshadweep. Which of the above statements is/are correct ?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(a) 1 only
The neighbouring provision, and the one most often mistaken for this question's proviso. A Governor holding a second charge over a Union territory does so under Article 239(2); holding a second Governorship over another State is the proviso to Article 153. Both exist, and prelims tests whether you can tell them apart.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under which provision of the Constitution of India may the same person be appointed Governor of two or more States?
- (a)The proviso to Article 153
- (b)Article 155
- (c)Article 239(2)
- (d)Article 158(4)
Answer(a) The proviso to Article 153, added by the Seventh Amendment Act, 1956; Article 158(3A) then allocates the Governor's emoluments among those States as the President determines. Article 155 is the mode of appointment, Article 239(2) covers a Governor administering an adjoining Union territory, and Article 158(4) bars any reduction of his emoluments during his term.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following statements about the Governor of a State is correct?
- (a)The Governor is elected by the elected members of the State Legislative Assembly
- (b)The Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President
- (c)A Governor cannot in any circumstances continue in office beyond a term of five years
- (d)A person must have completed 30 years of age to be appointed Governor
Answer(b) The Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President — Article 156(1). He is appointed, not elected (Article 155); he continues until his successor enters upon the office even after five years (Article 156(4)); and the minimum age is 35 years (Article 157).