Calcutta HC rejects plea seeking Governor’s removal

The petition, filed by advocate Rama Prasad Sarkar, claimed that Dhankhar has regularly ignored the advice of the state council of ministers and intervened in the matters ranging from law and order to health and education.

Hearing the matter, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj said Article 361 of the Constitution stipulates that a governor cannot be made answerable to any court for the exercise and performance of his/her powers and duties.

The Bench also referred to Article 156 of the Constitution that mandates that a governor shall hold office at the pleasure of the President for a term of five years.

The HC observed that pursuant to Article 361, there is a bar on the issue of a notice to the governor in any court proceedings. It further noted that such immunity can only be interfered with in a case where personal malafide has been proven.

Dismissing the PIL, the court underscored that it is not satisfied with the material placed on record and thus ruled that there is no ground to issue any directions.

“Examining the present case in the light of above pronouncements and limited scope of judicial review we find that the writ petition is based upon some tweets, one letter of the Governor and the publications made by one newspaper. We are not satisfied that the material placed along with the petition furnishing any ground to entertain the petition or to issue any such direction to the respondent No. 1 as prayed in the petition. Hence, the petition is dismissed,” read the court order.

The state government and Dhankhar have been at loggerheads over several issues for a while. The friction reached a crescendo after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blocked Dhankhar on Twitter on January 31.