Chief Minister in India

KNC501/KNC601 Constitution of India, Law and Engineering

Chapter 7: State Executives

Unit 1

Unit 2

Unit 3

Unit 4

Unit 5

Appendix

Chief Minister in India

Chief Minister is the real executive of the Government. Article 164 of the Constitution says that the Chief Minister shall be appointed by the governor.

Appointment of Chief Minister

Our constitution does not specifically mention the qualification to be appointed as Chief Minister (CM). Article 164 of the Constitution envisages that the Chief Minister shall be appointed by the governor. However, this does not imply that the governor is free to appoint anyone as the Chief Minister of the state or UT.

Powers and functions of Chief Minister

The powers and functions of CM can be classified under following heads:

A. With respect to the Council of Ministers

    1. He advises the Governor to appoint any person as a Minister. It is only according to the advice of the CM the Governor appoints Ministers.
    2. Allocation and reshuffling of portfolios among ministers.
    3. In case of a difference of opinion; he can ask the Minister to resign.
    4. Directs, guides, and controls activities of all the Ministers.
    5. If the Chief Minister resigns then the full cabinet has to resign.

B. With Respect to Governor

Under Article 167 of our constitution, The Chief Minister acts as a link between the Governor and the State Council of Ministers.

The functions with respect to the Governor are as follows:

    1. CM has to communicate to the Governor all the decisions of the council of ministers relating to the administration of the states.
    2. Whenever the Governor calls for any information relating to the decisions taken or regarding the administration, the CM has to provide him the same.
    3. The Governor can ask for consideration of the Council of Ministers when a decision has been taken without the consideration of the cabinet.
    4. CM advises the Governor regarding the appointment of important officials like the Attorney General, State Public Service Commission (Chairman and Members), State Election Commission, etc.

C. With Respect to State Legislature

    1. All the policies are announced by him on the floor of the house.
    2. He recommends the dissolution of the legislative assembly to the Governor.
    3. He advises the Governor regarding summoning, proroguing the sessions of the State Legislative Assembly from time to time.

Other Functions

    1. At the ground level, he is the authority to be in contact with the people regularly and knows about their problems to bring about policies on the floor of the assembly.
    2. He acts as the chairman of the State Planning Commission.
    3. He is the Vice-Chairman of the concerned zonal council in rotation for one year.
    4. During emergencies, he acts as the crisis manager in the state.

Author – Dilip Kumar Rawat

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