Instead of holding the office during the pleasure of the President who among…
2017
Instead of holding the office during the pleasure of the President who among the following hold(s) office during good behaviour ?
(a) Governor of a State
(b) Attorney General of India
(c) Judges of the High Court
(d) Administrator of a Union Territory
Select the correct answer from the codes given below :
Codes :
Answer: B. (c) only — Concept — the two tenure standards. An office held “during the pleasure of the President” rests on the doctrine of pleasure: the holder can be removed at the…
- A.
(a) only
- B.
(c) only
- C.
(a) and (c)
- D.
(a), (b), (c) and (d)
Attempted by 7 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept — the two tenure standards. An office held “during the pleasure of the President” rests on the doctrine of pleasure: the holder can be removed at the appointing authority’s discretion, with no fixed ground and no prescribed procedure. An office held “during good behaviour” carries security of tenure: the holder can be removed only for proved misbehaviour or incapacity, and only through the special removal procedure the Constitution itself lays down.
Why the Constitution draws the line. Pleasure tenure keeps an office answerable to the executive that appointed it, which is appropriate for the political and law-officer posts of the executive branch. Good-behaviour tenure deliberately takes removal out of the executive’s hands, and the Constitution reserves it for the organs whose independence it wants to protect — principally the higher judiciary. So the test to apply is simply: for each office, does the Constitution place its removal with the executive, or with Parliament under a proved-misbehaviour standard?
Application. Applying that test to the four offices listed in the question:
Office | Governing provision | How the holder can be removed | Tenure standard |
|---|---|---|---|
Governor of a State | Article 156(1) | At the President’s discretion; no ground and no procedure is prescribed | During the pleasure of the President — stated expressly |
Attorney General of India | Article 76(4) | At the President’s discretion; the post is a law-officer appointment of the Union executive | During the pleasure of the President — stated expressly |
Judges of the High Court | Article 217(1), proviso (b), read with Articles 218 and 124(4) | Only by a presidential order made after an address by each House of Parliament, passed by the prescribed special majority, on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity | During good behaviour |
Administrator of a Union Territory | Article 239(1) | At the President’s discretion; the Administrator is appointed by the President and administers the territory through and on behalf of the President | During the pleasure of the President — follows from the appointment-and-agency scheme rather than an express formula |
Cross-check by contrast. Two of the four provisions say it in express terms: Article 156(1) states that the Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President, and Article 76(4) says the same of the Attorney General. For the Administrator of a Union Territory the same result follows from the scheme rather than from an express formula — Article 239(1) has every Union Territory administered by the President acting through an Administrator appointed by him, so the Administrator is the President’s own agent and continues at his pleasure. The High Court judge is the exception the Constitution builds deliberately: Article 218 extends the Supreme Court removal machinery of Article 124(4) to the High Courts, so a judge can be displaced only by Parliament acting on proved misbehaviour or incapacity. That parliamentary, ground-based removal is precisely what “tenure during good behaviour” means.
Result. Among the four offices listed, it is the Judges of the High Court who hold office during good behaviour, while the Governor, the Attorney General and the Administrator of a Union Territory all hold office during the pleasure of the President. The code that selects just that one entry — (c) only — is therefore the answer.