Maharashtra Governor Sankaranarayanan Transferred to Mizoram

Updated - July 29, 2026 02:47 pm IST | New Delhi

PTI

In a late-night development, the government transferred Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan to Mizoram for the remainder of his tenure, which ends in 2017.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhawan communiqué issued on Saturday night, the 82-year-old Mr. Sankaranarayanan has been moved to Mizoram, while Gujarat Governor O.P. Kohli has been asked to discharge his duties.

Mr. Sankaranarayanan takes over the post after it fell vacant following the dismissal of Kamla Beniwal, who had a long-standing dispute with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he served as Gujarat Chief Minister.

Governor Dismissals Since 1967

1967

• Dharma Vira, Governor of West Bengal, dismissed Chief Minister Ajay Mukherjee and appointed P.C. Ghose in his place. He summoned the assembly against Mukherjee's will.

1977

• The Janata government dismissed around 15 governors.

1980

• Governor Prabhudas Patwari of Tamil Nadu was sacked.

1981

• Governor Raghukul Tilak of Rajasthan was sacked.

1984

• Congressman Ram Lal dismissed the N.T. Rama Rao government and appointed Nadendla Bhaskar Rao as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for 31 days.

1988

• The Sarkaria Commission Report on Centre-State Relations noted that the constant risk of early termination can leave a governor feeling insecure, undermining their ability to resist outside pressure and act impartially in discretionary functions.

1989: S.R. Bommai vs Union of India Case

• The Supreme Court held that Article 356 is an extreme power to be used only as a last resort where a state government has genuinely collapsed, echoing the Sarkaria Commission’s view. The Court also curtailed the Centre’s ability to dismiss state governments for purely political gain.

1998

• The BJP government removed Gujarat Governor Krishna Pal Singh, who had been appointed by the UPA government.

2001

• The NDA dismissed another UPA-appointed Tamil Nadu governor, M. Fathima Beevi, citing her failure to perform her duties.

2004

• The UPA government dismissed four NDA-appointed governors:
• Kidar Nath Sahni (Goa)
• Kailashpati Mishra (Gujarat)
• Babu Parmanand (Haryana)
• Vishnu Kant Shastri (Uttar Pradesh)

2014

• Kamla Beniwal was dismissed on orders of the President.
• Other governors who left their posts during this term:
• Puducherry’s Virendra Kataria was sacked
• Mizoram’s Vakkom B. Purushothaman resigned over an unwanted transfer to Nagaland
• Kamla Beniwal, formerly Governor of Gujarat and then Mizoram, was asked to step down
• Uttar Pradesh’s B.L. Joshi, Chhattisgarh’s Shekhar Dutt, Nagaland’s Ashwani Kumar, Goa’s B.V. Wanchoo, and West Bengal’s M.K. Narayan all resigned from their posts

Published - August 24, 2014 01:46 am IST