On Monday, the Supreme Court expressed its displeasure at the delay by some State Governors in giving assent to Bills. The Governors have to approve these Bills since they were sent back to Raj Bhavan following re-adoption by the Assembly.

Opposition-ruled States, namely, Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Telangana, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu, have had problems with their respective Governors for a while and continue to do so.

Surprisingly, Governors in the States mentioned above have openly deployed delay tactics using their discretionary powers under the Constitution.

It has now reached a point where elected State Governments have to constantly knock on the doors of the Supreme Court to seek judicial remedies to ensure smooth governance in their States!

Governors who are supposed to be a kind of ‘mentors’ have turned ‘tormentors’.

Speaking about the ongoing conflict between the Tamil Nadu Governor and the Tamil Nadu State Government, former Congress leader Kapil Sibal asked a few months ago, “Do we need a Governor at all?”

Kapil Sibal did not ask this question when he was the Law Minister and his Government was in power for ten years. Why? Because the position of a Governor is a political weapon that every Government wields.

A Governor has always been an expensive political instrument, and this position should be discarded as soon as possible to save taxpayers’ money and our democracy.

Raj Bhavans are now homes where party loyalists, who know too much, are sent to stay in comfort and silence until they are asked to cause trouble.

Raj Bhavans have also become protective bunkers for party loyalists facing corruption charges. The best example in recent memory is former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit.

Sheila Dikshit was made Kerala Governor immediately after she lost the Delhi elections. It was quick decision-making by a Government notorious for being ‘paralysed.’

What was the first order of business Sheila Dikshit conducted after she became the Governor? She sought to quash an FIR lodged against her!

Her lawyers argued before the Delhi High Court that the Trial Court order to lodge an FIR against her in a graft case is illegal because such proceedings cannot be continued against a Governor! Wah!

These Governors are expensive, too. For example, former Mizoram Governor Kamla Beniwal reportedly cost the tiny State’s exchequer Rs. 8 crore a year ! She loved flying off to her home State, Rajasthan. The 87-year-old Beniwal was also named in a major ‘books scam’ and a ‘land scam’!

Our contemporary history is full of high-handed Governors appointed by a Union Government, turning against popular leaders in the State and destabilising it. The Tamil Nadu Governor is just the latest example of a long-standing tradition of ‘trouble-making.’

In 1982, Haryana had a Hung Assembly. The then Governor G.D. Tapase invited a few MLAs who were defectors and made them join Congress, which then, despite being a minority party, formed the Government with Bhajan Lal as CM. Here is the interesting part – just the previous day, Devi Lal had proven the majority to the Governor!

In 1984, Congressman and Andhra Pradesh Governor Ram Lal dismissed the N.T. Rama Rao Government and installed Nadendla Bhaskara Rao as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for 31 days!

While most Governors meddled in State politics, one indulged in porn-tics. ‘Testosterone Tiwari,’ aka late N.D. Tiwari, then an 83-year-old Governor, was caught on camera getting naughty messages with three reluctant young women.

The Congress did nothing, nor did the Women’s Commission. But what about the law? Well, N.D. Tiwari was the Governor, so the law couldn’t touch him; only young ladies could, we suppose.

The 1983 Justice Sarkaria Commission had recommended that a Governor be a person of eminence, not involved in the local politics of the State to which he or she is sent, and not a politician associated with the ruling party at the Centre, in order to preserve the federal balance.

Obviously, the above recommendation has not been implemented, as politicians are still appointed as Governors. This being the case, how can a Governor care for India’s federal balance? After all, he got the position by caring more for his party than his country.

So, while we had one pervert Governor, many have been mischief-makers and facilitators for their party in Delhi. It even became a safe house for the corrupt.

We assumed Modi, who kept saying ‘minimum Government and maximum governance,’ would remove this appendix in the Indian democracy. But alas.

It is time to eliminate this ceremonial position and turn their grand retirement homes, the Raj Bhavans, into museums, art galleries and music centres. At least the Government will earn some money instead of losing money, and it will be one less threat to our federal structure.

Will this Government do it? Nah! Every Government needs a sleeper cell they can activate when they want to deactivate a State Government. We are doomed.

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