1. After looking at the list of powers enumerated, you must be feeling that the Governor of a State is a very powerful person. In a parliamentary system, as you know, the Council of Ministers is responsible to the legislature and therefore, the real powers are exercised by it and not the Governor. He, like the President, has to act according to the advice of the Council of Ministers, headed by the Chief Minister. Hence, the Governor ordinarily has to act as a Constitutional or ceremonial head.

2. However, under extraordinary situations, the Governor gets an opportunity to exercise his / her authority according to his / her discretion. Since the 1967 General Election of, when several States opted for Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD) government, due to the discretionary power, the office of the Governor has become quite controversial.

3. The Governors have acted according to their whims and on certain occasions have tried to please the ruling party at the national Government level. According to the constitutional experts, the Governor's role in three respects, i.e., recommending to the President for the proclamation of emergency; appointing a Chief Ministers in case no party gets a clear majority and deciding the fate of the Chief Minister in case of intra-party defections, has become very controversial.

4. The deterioration in the political standards and practices that has come about in the wake of multi-party ministries in many of the states, party rivalries, political defections and fragmentation of the political parties has been at the root of these controversies.

5. Suggestions and recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission as well as of Sarkaria Commission have remained only on paper, in spite of the fact that these recommendations would help in minimising partiality on the part of the functioning of the Governors.