Sarkaria Commission was set up in 1983 by the central government of India. The Sarkaria Commission’s charter was to examine the central-state relationship on various portfolios and suggest changes within the framework of Constitution of India. The Commission was so named as it was headed by Justice Ranjit Singh Sarkaria (Chairman of the commission), a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India. The other members of the committee were Shri B. Sivaraman (Cabinet Secretary), Dr S.R. Sen (former Executive Director of IBRD) and Rama Subramaniam (Member Secretary).
The Commission felt that the State Government should be given prominence in appointing the Governor. The appointment should be made
(1) From a panel to be prepared by the State Legislature; or
(2) From a panel to be prepared by the State Government or invariably by the Chief Minister;
The commission felt that the chief minister should be consulted before appointing the governor. For proper working of the parliamentary system, there has to be a personal rapport between the governor and the chief minister.
Thus the main purpose of consulting the chief minister is to ascertain his objections, if any, to the proposed appointment.
The commission found that consultation with the chief minister has not invariably been taking place in recent years.
The general practice, as far as the commission has been able to ascertain, seems to be that the Union Government merely informs the chief minister that a certain person is being appointed as the governor of the state. Sometimes even such prior intimation is not given.
The commission recommended that the Vice President of India and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha should be consulted by the prime minister in the selection of governor. Such consultation, the commission felt, will greatly enhance the credibility of the selection process.[4]
Some of the recommendations have been adopted such as governor to be from outside the state. The SC has many times emphasized the urgent need for implementing Sarkaria commission’s recommendations on selection and appointment of governors.