It is argued that the appointment of the Governor by the President of India cuts
short the autonomy of the states and goes against the principle of ‘state autonomy’
thereby weakening federalism.
The procedure of appointment and the removal of the Governor, also make theCentre strong because his term of office is not secure and he acts only on thedirections of the Centre. Governor was expected to be a link between Centre and state, but instead, he/shehas become a tool in the hand of Centre to interfere in the working of stategovernment. Governor’s post has become highly politicized.
None of thegovernments protected the honour and dignity of the office of Governor in tune withthe federal policy. One recent example is the situation in Arunachal Pradesh (during 2016-17). TheGovernor’s sudden call for emergency created havoc in the state. Then the verdict ofthe Supreme Court in this regard was an indication calling for the Centre to stopusing the post of Governor to destabilize governments.There are also various stances where the Governors are working on the whims of theCentral Government.
Misuse of Article 200 (reservation of State Bills by the Governor for consideration ofthe President) and emergency provisions under Article 356 had amounted tocentralisation of power which has been the major concern among the states.Centralisation is as such a threat to Indian federalism.