The Governor of a State is “but a shorthand expression for the State government” while exercising powers of clemency under Article 161 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court said in its judgment releasing Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict A.G. Perarivalan on Wednesday.
A Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao, referring to Constitution Bench judgments, recorded that “in the matter of exercise of the powers under Articles 72 and 161, the two highest dignitaries (President and Governor) in our constitutional scheme must act not on their own judgment but in accordance with the aid and advice of the ministers”.
“The constitutional conclusion is that the Governor is but a shorthand expression for the State government,” Justice Rao wrote in the judgment.
