There is something quite pathetic about this. At the great age of 87, Kamla Beniwal accepted the Centre’s instructions to be transferred from Gujarat to Mizoram as governor. It is indeed extraordinary that, unmindful of inconvenience and a clearly intended slight, she should seek to cling to a high constitutional position even after her bête noire, former Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, won a massive election and became Prime Minister.
Mr Modi and his party had assumed a posture of war on Ms Beniwal on the issue of the appointment of a lokayukta in Gujarat and had thought nothing of spending state funds to have her orders annulled. Given the background, many in Ms Beniwal’s position may have taken the hint of a transfer and resigned. As it turned out, the Mizoram governor, who could serve only a few weeks in the north-eastern state, was brutally shown the door.
She is reported to have learnt of her dismissal only from television channels. Serve her right? The point though is hardly what we may think of the dismissed governor as a person in the light of her decision and her recent travails. The issue at stake is our constitutional arrangement, and the way the Centre ought to treat governors in a federal set-up.
The tradition has unfortunately built up that a party winning the Lok Sabha election would sack governors appointed during the earlier regime and bring in its own favourites. The Supreme Court judgment of 2005 frowned on this, and explicitly observed that if a governor had to be ejected, cogent reasons had to be offered.
The way the Modi government has dealt with governors lately shows its disregard of the apex court’s judgment. In the case of Ms Beniwal, the Congress has spoken of a “political vendetta” while the government has held that the letter and the spirit of the constitutional provisions have been observed. A Cabinet minister has even hinted at “corruption”.
If that was the case, why was Ms Beniwal transferred to Mizoram? Why wasn’t she given marching orders from Gujarat on grounds of corruption? It is legitimate to wonder if she would have met this fate had she got on well with Mr Modi in Gujarat.
The real way out is for governments to choose persons of eminence from a variety of fields, not just politics and administration, to be governors. As in the case of the Lokpal or the CVC, there could be a panel to effect their selection. The chances of the governor’s office being a sinecure for politicians who can’t be fitted elsewhere would then be vastly reduced. The real intent of the constitutional provisions in this regard would be better served.
