{"id":953,"date":"2026-03-13T06:56:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T06:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/?p=953"},"modified":"2026-03-17T06:56:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T06:56:50","slug":"issues-surrounding-governors-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/issues-surrounding-governors-address\/","title":{"rendered":"Issues surrounding Governor\u2019s address"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Issues surrounding Governor\u2019s address<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s\u00a0in the news?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/mark><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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  • There have been a series of issues in Opposition-ruled States with respect to the\u00a0address by the Governor to the State legislature\u00a0<\/strong>at the\u00a0commencement of the first session of the year.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • This has raised constitutional and political questions about the Governor\u2019s role in the State legislature.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Historical Background<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/mark><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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    • Section 63<\/strong>\u00a0of the\u00a0Government of India Act, 1935 (GOI Act)<\/strong>\u00a0provided that the\u00a0Governor may in his discretion address the Provincial legislature.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Starting from\u00a01937,<\/strong>\u00a0when\u00a0provincial autonomy<\/strong>\u00a0started under GOI act, the\u00a0Governor\u2019s speech was prepared<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0consultation with the Council of Ministers in Provinces\u00a0<\/strong>that laid down the legislative agenda.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Constitutional Provisions<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/mark><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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      • Article 175 of the Constitution\u00a0<\/strong>specifies that the\u00a0Governor may address the house(s) of the State legislature.<\/strong>\u00a0This is\u00a0not a mandatory address<\/strong>\u00a0and may be rarely used by a ruling government.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Article 176,<\/strong>\u00a0on the other hand, provides that the\u00a0Governor shall address the house(s) of the State legislature<\/strong>\u00a0at the\u00a0commencement of the first session after each general election to the Legislative Assembly<\/strong>\u00a0and at the\u00a0commencement of the first session of each year.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\n
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        • This is a\u00a0mandatory address<\/strong>\u00a0to be\u00a0prepared by the Council of Ministers,\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0delivered by the Governor<\/strong>, outlining the government\u2019s achievements in the previous year and its roadmap for the policies in the ensuing year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • This address is also provided whenever a\u00a0new assembly is constituted<\/strong>\u00a0to enable a newly sworn in Council of Ministers to outline their policies to the elected representatives and through them to the citizens at large.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • The\u00a0Supreme Court<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a0Shamsher Singh vs State of Punjab (1974)<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>had held that the\u00a0Governor is only a constitutional head<\/strong>\u00a0who\u00a0acts on the advice of Council of Ministers.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • In\u00a0<\/strong>Nabam Rebia vs Deputy Speaker (2016)<\/em><\/strong>,<\/strong>\u00a0the\u00a0Supreme Court<\/strong>\u00a0reiterated that the\u00a0address under Article 175 or 176<\/strong>\u00a0is to be\u00a0performed by the Governor on the aid and advice of Council of Ministers.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Issues surrounding Governor\u2019s address What\u2019s\u00a0in the news? Historical Background Constitutional Provisions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-polity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":954,"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions\/954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}