Bihar Governor, CM and Legislature: Articles and Facts

Bihar is governed under Part VI of the Constitution: Articles 153 to 167 set up the state executive and Articles 168 to 212 the state legislature. The executive power of the state is vested in the Governor, but it is used by a Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister that holds office only as long as the Vidhan Sabha supports it. Bihar also belongs to the small group of states that kept a second chamber, so its legislature has two Houses: the Vidhan Sabha, elected directly by the voters, and the Vidhan Parishad, a permanent House that is never dissolved. For BPSC, BSSC, Bihar Police and SSC papers this chapter is a bank of articles and numbers, and it is the numbers that candidates lose marks on.

The Governor of Bihar

Article 153 provides a Governor for each state and Article 154 vests the executive power of the state in him, to be exercised directly or through officers subordinate to him. Under Article 155 the Governor is appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal, so the office is filled by appointment and never by election. Article 156 gives him a term of five years but says he holds office during the pleasure of the President, so the term is no guarantee; he addresses his resignation to the President. Article 157 asks only two things of him: he must be a citizen of India and must have completed thirty-five years of age. Article 158 bars him from membership of Parliament or of a state legislature and from any office of profit, and charges his emoluments on the Consolidated Fund of the state. Under Article 159 he is sworn in by the Chief Justice of the High Court of the state, which for Bihar means the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court. His official residence is Raj Bhavan at Patna, and under the state university laws he is also the Chancellor of the state universities.

What the Governor can do

The pardoning power under Article 161 is narrower than the power of the President under Article 72 in two ways that examiners like. The Governor cannot pardon a sentence of death and he has no power at all over a sentence passed by a court martial, though he may suspend, remit or commute a death sentence.

The Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers

Article 164 says the Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor and the other ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. The Constitution lays down no procedure for choosing him; by convention the Governor calls the leader of the party or coalition that commands a majority in the Vidhan Sabha. A person who is not a member of either House may be appointed, but Article 164(4) requires him to become a member within six consecutive months or cease to be a minister. Article 163 provides a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at its head to aid and advise the Governor, except where he is required to act in his discretion, and bars any court from enquiring whether a matter fell within that discretion. Article 164(1A), inserted by the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act of 2003, caps the total number of ministers including the Chief Minister at fifteen per cent of the total strength of the Legislative Assembly, with a floor of twelve; since the Bihar Vidhan Sabha has 243 members, the state can have at most thirty-six ministers. The Council is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly, which is why a successful no-confidence motion brings down the whole ministry and not one minister. Article 167 makes it the duty of the Chief Minister to communicate the decisions of the Council to the Governor, to furnish any information on administration he calls for, and to place before the Council any matter on which a minister has decided alone. Article 165 provides an Advocate General as the chief law officer of the state and Article 166 directs that all executive action be expressed in the name of the Governor. Shri Krishna Sinha, in office from 1946 until his death in 1961, was the first Chief Minister of Bihar, with Anugrah Narayan Sinha as the first Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister; Rabri Devi, sworn in during 1997, was the first woman to hold the office in the state.

Bihar Vidhan Sabha

The Vidhan Sabha has 243 members elected from single-member territorial constituencies by universal adult suffrage. The House was far larger before the state was divided: it had 324 seats, and the eighty-one that went to the new state of Jharkhand in November 2000 left Bihar with 243. Article 172 gives the House a term of five years from its first sitting, which Parliament may extend by one year at a time while a Proclamation of Emergency is in force; the Governor may dissolve it earlier. Article 173 fixes twenty-five years as the minimum age for membership, and Article 332 reserves seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Article 178 provides a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker chosen by the House from among its members; the Speaker certifies whether a bill is a money bill, decides questions of disqualification on the ground of defection under the Tenth Schedule, and votes only to break a tie. Article 174 requires that six months shall not pass between the last sitting of one session and the first sitting of the next.

Bihar Vidhan Parishad

Article 168 allows a state legislature to have one House or two, and Article 169 lets Parliament create or abolish a second chamber when the Assembly of the state passes a resolution by a special majority. The Bihar council descends from the legislative council of the Bihar and Orissa province set up after Bihar was separated from Bengal in 1912, which makes it one of the oldest second chambers in the country. It has seventy-five members. Article 171 fixes the frame for every such House: the total may not be more than one-third of the strength of the Assembly and not fewer than forty, and of the members about one-third are elected by the members of local authorities, one-third by the members of the Assembly, one-twelfth by teachers of three years standing, one-twelfth by graduates of three years standing, and the rest are nominated by the Governor from persons with special knowledge of literature, science, art, the cooperative movement and social service. A member sits for six years, one-third of the House retires every two years, and the House is never dissolved. The minimum age is thirty years, and Article 182 provides a Chairman and a Deputy Chairman elected by the House.

How a bill becomes law in Bihar

A money bill can be introduced only in the Vidhan Sabha and only on the recommendation of the Governor; under Article 198 the Vidhan Parishad can keep it for no more than fourteen days, after which it is deemed passed in the form the Assembly sent it. For an ordinary bill Article 197 allows the Council three months at the first stage and one more month when the bill comes to it again, four months in all, after which the will of the Assembly prevails. There is no joint sitting for a state legislature, which is the point candidates confuse with Article 108. A bill that has passed both Houses goes to the Governor under Article 200, who may assent, withhold assent, return it for reconsideration if it is not a money bill, or reserve it for the consideration of the President; Article 201 then governs what the President does with it.

Discretion and President's rule

A Governor acts on his own judgment in a few situations: choosing a Chief Minister when no party has a clear majority, deciding the fate of a ministry that appears to have lost the confidence of the House, reserving a bill for the President under Article 200, and reporting under Article 356 that the government of the state cannot be carried on in accordance with the Constitution. Such a report leads to President's rule, during which the state is administered in the name of the President through the Governor and the law-making power of the Vidhan Sabha is exercised by Parliament. Bihar has been placed under President's rule on several occasions, among them a spell in 2005 between two Assembly elections.