PROFESSOR Upendra Baxi defines a crisis as a situation where "the structure of a social system allows fewer possibilities for problem-solving than are necessary for the continued existence of the system". Where people desire change but are unable to initiate or attain it, there arises a perception of crisis. A crisis is not a situation-it is the incapacity to act. Among various crises, the first and foremost is the crisis of legitimation of law and legal institutions. The institution of governor in the Constitution is one perversion arising out of this crisis. It will not be an overstatement to say that no institution or constitutional office has suffered greater erosion or degradation than the office of the governor in India.
The recent controversy where the then governor of Tamil Nadu Banwarilal Purohit referred the mercy petition filed by AG Perarivalan, one of the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to the president of India has added a new dimension to this crisis. The matter has been brought before the Supreme Court on the ground that it is against the well-established constitutional convention and judicial precedents. The Supreme Court amazingly took this matter seriously and questioned the governor's decision to refer the mercy petition to the president of India and observed that: "The President has no role under Article 161. In case the Governor has a different opinion, he has to send it back to the State."
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