It must be a bizarre system that leaves the conduct of a high public office to the ?discretion? of an individual. This systemic fault shows when the governor of a state installs or dismisses a popular government in times of crises. But most debates on the governor?s role completely miss the point. Instead, what happens is that the political parties which gain by the governor?s decision hail it and the losers cry foul. That happened with the decision of Goa?s governor, Mr S.C. Jamir, to dismiss the National Democratic Alliance government. And this has now happened after the governor of Jharkhand, Mr Syed Sibtey Razi, used his ?discretion? to invite the United Progressive Alliance to form the new government in Ranchi. Since Mr Razi, a former Congressman, was appointed by the new regime at the Centre, it is easy to see as partisan his choice of Mr Shibu Soren as the new chief minister. It is also possible to accuse him of double standards. While he sought to ?personally? verify the loyalties of the newly-elected independent members of the state assembly offering their support to an NDA government, he did no such thing for the independents pledging support to the UPA.

But all these arguments would still miss the crucial question. It relates to the absence of a law categorically defining the governor?s role in such situations. Fractured mandates expose the lacuna dramatically. Although the Sarkaria commission warned against the danger, governments in New Delhi chose to ignore the signal. Both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party hoped to make partisan gains by appointing their own nominees as governors. Even the leftists, who routinely portrayed the governors as playthings of the Centre, have a dubious record of supporting undemocratic gubernatorial decisions. It is time the parties seriously considered enacting laws that would take away the discretions and bind the governors to act legally in controversial situations. There should be a law that would make it mandatory for the governors to call the single largest party or pre-poll alliance to form a government in the event of a hung assembly. The law could also determine what the governors would do in cases of other complications. Not having such laws is a sure recipe for party games at Raj Bhavans. Worse, it makes a high constitutional office fundamentally incompatible with democracy.