Court case(2016) 8 SCC 1

In Arunachal Pradesh a group of Congress MLAs rebelled against Chief Minister Nabam Tuki. On 9 December 2015 the Governor, without consulting the Chief Minister or the Council of Ministers, advanced the Assembly session fixed for 14 January 2016 to 16 December 2015 and prescribed as its first item the resolution for removal of the Speaker, Nabam Rebia. The Speaker meanwhile disqualified fourteen rebel MLAs. The 'session' was held outside the Assembly building, the Speaker was 'removed' and the Government was voted out. The Gauhati High Court upheld the Governor's order; the Speaker appealed.

The Constitution Bench set aside the Governor's orders and restored the position as it stood on 15 December 2015, bringing the Tuki Government back. Khehar J held that the Governor's discretion under Article 163(1) is confined to the functions which the Constitution expressly or by necessary implication leaves to him; summoning, proroguing and dissolving the House under Article 174 are not among them. In the ordinary course the Governor acts on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers in summoning the House, and he has no role in the proceedings of the House or in the removal of the Speaker. The Governor cannot become a participant in party politics or 'play the role of ombudsman' for the Legislature. The Court also held, obiter in part, that a Speaker against whom a notice of removal under Article 179(c) is pending should not decide disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule; this point was referred to a seven-judge bench in Subhash Desai (2023).