Executive power of State

Article 130, Draft Constitution of India 1948

(1) The executive power of the State shall be vested in the Governor and may be exercised by him in accordance with the Constitution and the law.

(2) Nothing in this article shall-

(a) Be deemed to transfer to the Governor any functions conferred by any existing law on any other authority; or

(b) Prevent Parliament or the Legislature of the State from conferring by law functions on any authority subordinate to the Governor.

(1) The executive power of the State shall be vested in the Governor and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with this Constitution.

⁠(2) Nothing in this article shall—

(a) be deemed to transfer to the Governor any functions conferred by any existing law on any other authority; or

(b) prevent Parliament or the Legislature of the State from conferring by law functions on any authority subordinate to the Governor.

Draft Article 130 (Article 154) was debated on 30th May 1949 and 16th October 1949. It vested the executive power of a state in its Governor.

A member proposed an amendment to clause (1) to replace the word ‘may’ with ‘shall’. He argued that the use of ‘may’ indicated that it was not binding on the Governor to exercise his powers in accordance with the Constitution and the law.

Another member proposed an amendment to the effect that the Governor’s power was exercised ‘on behalf of the people’.

A third member expressed discomfort with the use of the word ‘transfer’ in the context of clause (2), and proposed to replace it with the words ‘authorise or empower’. He contended that the latter was more accurate as functions were attached to a specific role and could not be transferred.

The Chairman of the Drafting Committee was against the proposed amendments. He reminded the Assembly that the current Draft Article was a reproduction of Draft Article 42 (Article 53) relating to the executive powers of the Union, and similar amendments had been rejected during the debates on that Draft Article.

All three amendments were negatived by the Assembly. The Draft Article was initially adopted on 30th May 1949.

Subsequently, the language of Draft Article 42 was amended. A member of the Drafting Committee proposed that the words ‘may be exercised by him‘ be substituted for ‘shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him‘, in order to mirror the language used in Draft Article 42. The amendment was accepted on 16th October 1949.