Retired Supreme Court Judge S Abdul Nazeer appointed Andhra Pradesh Governor; Harichandan shifted

This essentially cut short Harichandan’s five-year tenure as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. He was appointed as Andhra Pradesh governor in July 2019.

Justice Nazeer, who retired on 4 January, has been part of several pathbreaking verdicts, including those on the politically sensitive Ayodhya land dispute, instant “triple talaq”, and the one that declared the “right to privacy” a fundamental right.

Elevated as a judge of the apex court on 17 February, 2017, Justice Nazeer was part of several Constitution benches that delivered judgements on issues ranging from the demonetisation of currency notes of ₹1,000 and ₹500 denominations in 2016 to the reservation for Marathas in admission and government jobs and the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression of high public functionaries.

Man behind Ayodhya verdict

Justice Nazeer was part of a five-judge Constitution bench that in November 2019 cleared the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya and directed the Centre to allot a five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for a mosque.

The Justice Nazeer-led five-judge Constitution benches delivered two separate verdicts this year, including the one which by a majority of 4:1 validated the legality of the Centre’s 2016 decision to demonetise the ₹1,000 and ₹500 denomination currency notes, saying the decision-making process was neither flawed nor hasty.

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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy congratulated the newly appointed Governor of the state and expressed hope that the experience of Justice Nazir, who is a legal expert, would be useful in strengthening democracy and providing good guidance to the state.

It is my privilege to welcome the incoming Governor, Sri S. Abdul Nazeer garu, to our beautiful state of Andhra Pradesh. I look forward to working with you in unravelling Andhra Pradesh’s full potential.
Welcome Sir!

— YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (@ysjagan) February 12, 2023

Jagan also thanked the incumbent Governor, Biswa Bhushan, for the services that he rendered to the state as Governor.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and his Cabinet colleagues also congratulated former Justice Nazeer on his appointment as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh.

In a tweet, Bommai said, “Congratulations to former Supreme Court judge, Justice S Abdul Nazeer from Karnataka on being appointed as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. Best wishes for a successful gubernatorial tenure.”

ನೂತನವಾಗಿ ಆಂದ್ರ ಪ್ರದೇಶದ ರಾಜ್ಯಪಾಲರಾಗಿ ನಿಯುಕ್ತಿಗೊಂಡಿರುವ ಹೆಮ್ಮೆಯ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ ಶ್ರೀ ಎಸ್‌. ಅಬ್ದುಲ್ ನಜೀರ್ ರವರಿಗೆ ಹಾರ್ದಿಕ ಅಭಿನಂದನೆಗಳು. ಮೂಲತಃ ಮಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಬೆಳುವಾಯಿಯವರಾದ ಇವರು ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಉಚ್ಛ ನ್ಯಾಯಾಲಯದಲ್ಲಿ ವಕೀಲರಾಗಿ ಸೇವೆ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಿ, ನಂತರ ಸುಪ್ರಿಂ ಕೋರ್ಟ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ನ್ಯಾಯಾಧೀಶರಾಗಿ, ನಿವೃತ್ತರಾಗಿದ್ದರು. pic.twitter.com/kAcLOxxv8C

— Basavaraj S Bommai (Modi Ka Parivar) (@BSBommai) February 12, 2023

Karnataka ministers K Sudhakar and C N Ashwath Narayan too extended their greetings to Justice Nazeer.

Harichandan’s shifting

Biswa Bhushan Harichandan. (Supplied)

President of India, Draupadi Murmu appointed Harichandan the Governor of Chhattisgarh, cutting short his tenure in Andhra Pradesh.

According to Article 156 of the Constitution, the Governor shall hold office “during the pleasure of the President”, but their normal term of office will be five years.

If the President withdraws her pleasure before the completion of five years, the Governor has to step down.

Since the President acts on the aid and advice of the prime minister and the Union Council of Ministers, in effect, the Governor is appointed and removed by the Central government.

A noncontroversial Harichandan, who was appointed days after YS Jagan Mohan Reddy stormed into power, always maintained cordial relations with the YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh, unlike Governors appointed in Opposition-ruled states.

The Centre’s move to replace Harichandan comes at a time when the BJP for the first time in Andhra Pradesh was firm about not having new alliance partners and also determined to grow on its own as an alternative to both strong regional forces in the state- ruling YSRCP and opposition TDP.

The BJP often calls both the TDP and the YSRCP dynastic and family-ruled parties, and says Andhra Pradesh should get rid of them.

Harichandan’s stint

Harichandan is the second Governor and the first one to be appointed exclusively for Andhra Pradesh after the bifurcation in June 2014.

Until July 2019, retired IPS ESL Narasimhan was the Governor of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

A veteran BJP leader from Odisha, Harichandan hails from a family of freedom fighters. He began his career as a lawyer in the Odisha High Court in 1961 and joined the then Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1971.

He joined the BJP in 1980 when it was founded and became the president of the Odisha state unit.

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy took to Twitter to give a farewell message to the outgoing governor Harichandan and also welcomed the new governor to the state.

During his nearly-three-and-a-half-year tenure in Andhra Pradesh, Haricahndan came under criticism from the Opposition and other quarters for giving his assent to the twin bills to pave the way for Jagan’s three-capital plan and also an ordinance removing the then-state election commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar and appointing former Madras High Court Judge V Kanagaraj to the post.

Interestingly both decisions were reversed by the state high court at later stages.

Criticism for appointment

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh tagged a video on Twitter of former Union minister Arun Jaitley saying in 2012 that “pre-retirement judgements are influenced by post-retirement jobs”.

“Adequate proof of this in the past 3-4 years for sure [sic],” Ramesh tweeted along with the video.

Asked about Nazeer’s appointment, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters, “One of your (BJP) tall leaders sadly no more with us, Arun Jaitley, on 5 September, 2013, in the House and several times outside stated that ‘the desire of a post-retirement job influences pre-retirement judgements. It is a threat to the Independence of the judiciary’.”

He also dismissed the argument that this had happened several times earlier, so such an appointment was acceptable.

“We are not talking about persons or individuals. Personally, I have very great respect for this person (Nazeer). I know him, it is not about him at all. As a matter of principle, we oppose it; as a matter of principle, we believe it is a matter of great diminution and a great threat to the Independence of the judiciary for the reasons I have just quoted in the excerpt I played out,” Singhvi said, referring to Jaitley’s remarks.

“Therefore, we condemn it, we oppose it and we do not agree with it,” the Rajya Sabha member said.

CPI(M) leader and Rajya Sabha member AA Rahim also criticised the Centre’s decision to appoint Nazeer the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. He said on Sunday that it was a blot on Indian democracy.

“The decision of the Union government to appoint Justice Abdul Nazeer as a Governor is not on par with the constitutional values of the country. It is highly condemnable. He (Nazeer) should refuse to take up the offer. The country should not lose confidence in its legal system. Such decisions of the Modi government are a blot on Indian democracy,” Rahim said in a Facebook post.

(With inputs from PTI)