On August 18, 2020, Satya Pal Malik was appointed as the Governor of Meghalaya. He replaced Tathagata Roy. Mr Malik served as Governor of Goa previously.
With his transfer, the Governor of Maharashtra Bagat Singh Koshyari is to discharge the functions of Governor of Goa.
Satya Pal Malik
Malik served as the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir in 2018-19. It was during his tenure that the constitutional decision to abrogate Article 370 was implemented.
He was elected as Member of Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh in 1974. He was elected as Rajya Sabha representative in 1980-86. He served as Governor of Bihar in 2017-18. In 2018, he was given the additional charge to serve as Governor of Odisha.
Governor
The governor appointment, powers and his office holdings are discussed in Article 153 to Article 162 in Indian constitution. Governor is the constitutional head of the state. He has “Dual Capacity”, that is, as the constitutional head of the state and also the representative of the centre.
For a person to become governor, he should be
- A citizen of India
- He should not be a member of parliament or state legislature
- He should not hold office of profit
- He should have attained the age of 35 years
Termination of the Governor
The term of a Governor is for five years. However, he shall be terminated for following reasons
- HE shall be dismissed by the president on advice of the council of ministers
- He shall be dismissed by the President if his acts are upheld as unconstitutional or malafide
- His term terminates if he resigns addressing to the President.
Discretionary Powers of Governor
The following are the discretionary powers of Governor
- When no party gets clear majority, the governor has the discretion to select a candidate as Chief Minister who he believes can put together a majority coalition
- Imposition of President’s rule
- He shall submit report about the affairs of the state on his own or on the direction of the president
- He shall override the advice of the council of ministers during emergency if permitted by the president.
