Which one of the following suggested that the Governor should be an eminent person from outside the State and should be a detached figure without intense political links or should not have taken part in politics in the recent past ?

The answer is C. The Sarkaria Commission (set up in 1983 under R.S. Sarkaria, report submitted in 1988) examined Centre-State relations and recommended that the Governor should be an eminent person from outside the State, a detached figure without intense links to local politics, and ideally someone who has not been active in politics in the recent past. The aim was to make the office credible to a state government of a different party.

Why the others fail:

• A) First Administrative Reforms Commission (1966) focused on administrative machinery and did not lay down this eligibility profile for the Governor.
• B) Rajamannar Committee (1969), set up by Tamil Nadu, is known for demanding greater state autonomy and a review of Centre-State financial relations. It is not the source of this formulation.
• D) National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (2000), under M.N. Venkatachaliah, did discuss the Governor's role, but the detached-outsider formula is attributed to Sarkaria.

Concept: the Governor's appointment and discretion under Articles 153 to 163, and the misuse of Article 356. This is a standard Mains topic on Centre-State relations. The Supreme Court's S.R. Bommai judgment (1994) and the Punchhi Commission (2010) built on these debates.

Trap: aspirants mix up the 1969 Rajamannar Committee with Sarkaria because both deal with Centre-State relations.