Question

While appointing a Governor, the President generally consults the Chief Minister of the State. This is:
A)Constitutional imperative
B)A matter of convention
C)Because Parliament has legislated to that effect
D)A duty of the President

Answer 1

Hint: The Governor of the state is the chief executive of the state. He is a representative of the central government in the state. The Governor has executive powers like appointing the chief minister and chairman of State Public service commission, legislative powers like assenting to state bills and formulating ordinances, financial powers like assenting to introduction of money bills in state legislatures and judicial powers like granting pardons,reprieves and commuting the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the state extends.

Complete answer:
The Governor of the State is not elected by an electoral college but is appointed by the President.
The constitution requires a person to be a citizen of India and at least of 35years of age to be appointed as the Governor.
Apart from these constitutional provisions, there are two conventions regarding appointment of Governor.
Convention means a tradition or a norm that is followed despite not being explicitly stated as a rule.
The two convention regarding appointment of Governor are
-The governor appointed should not belong to the state where he is appointed.This is to ensure that he is not part of the local politics
-While appointing the governor, the president is required to consult the chief minister of the state concerned, so that the smooth functioning of the constitutional machinery in the state is ensured
Option (A) constitutional imperative means an issue which is of prime importance to the constitution or has been explicitly stated in it like Rule of Law, Universal Adult Franchise etc.
Option (C) refers to Parliament legislation. These could be issues that may not have been mentioned in the constitution but the parliament has made laws on it, either inspired by the principles of governance stated in the constitution or because the time demands an legislation on the issue. Like the Environment Protection Act or the IT act of 2000.
Option (D) Duties of the president include executive, legislative, financial and judicial functions which have been clearly stated in the constitution.

Therefore the correct option is (B)

Note: It is important to understand that these conventions regarding appointment of governor have been violated. Also, though usually one Governor is appointed for each state, the 7th Constitutional Amendment has allowed appointment of the same person as a governor for two or more states