By IANS,
New Delhi : In an indictment of the Congress-led ruling combine’s first term, the Supreme Court Friday said state governors cannot be removed on the grounds of “lack of confidence” or “conflict of political and ideological opinions” with the party in power in New Delhi.
A constitution bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy, Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice P. Sathasivam said the arbitrary removal of a governor was subject to a “limited judicial review”.
The court gave its verdict while disposing off a petition challenging the removal the then governors of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Goa July 2, 2004 by the United Progressive Alliance government after it took over from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance.
The court said “change in government at the centre is not a ground for removal of governors holding office to make way for others favoured by the new government”.