The Supreme Court order on Punjab Government’s plea on Tuesday not only ended the uncertainty shrouding the holding of Vidhan Sabha’s budget session from March 3, but has also made it clear that the Governor and the State Government have to listen to each other in the matters of convening sessions and providing information.
The judgment by the Bench, headed by the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, has sent out a strong message to both Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who have been at loggerheads with one another for months now over a slew of issues — making it clear that the Governor was duty-bound to summon the assembly session once the State Cabinet recommends it, and so is the Chief Minister to furnish the information sought by the Governor.
With this, the tug of war that has been going on between the two, having larger political ramifications, is now expected to come to an end, leading to smooth functioning in the state.
Moreover, the State Government, which has been evading replies to the issues and queries raised by the Governor — especially regarding several appointments, has to be more accountable than ever before.
It is expected that the State Government’s several decisions, including principals’ training in Singapore, SC scholarship, appointment of IPS Kuldeep Singh Chahal, Punjab Infotech chairman, and Punjab Agriculture University Vice-Chancellor, among others, will now come under strong scrutiny.
The judgment has not only made it clear that the Governor has the power to seek any information or raise objection on government’s decision, but has also left it open for the Government to approach the Apex Court for the redressal of its grievances anytime and every time, in case the Governor refuses to give his consent to the Cabinet’s decisions, like convening sessions, giving consent to the bills, etc.
The Slugfest
The latest flashpoint between the Governor and the Chief Minister the formers’ refusal to give consent approval to the Cabinet’s decision to summon Vidhan Sabha’s Budget session from March 3. In his letter on February 23, Purohit had made it clear that he would take decision only after getting a legal advice over Mann’s “derogatory” and “unconstitutional” tweet and letter addressed to him on February 13 and 14, respectively.
On Sunday, Mann announced the Government’s decision to seek the intervention of the Supreme Court to conduct the budget session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha via Twitter — indicating that the AAP Government is in no mood to bow down before the Governor, and, in fact, would fight it out in the country’s Apex Court.
“Glimpses of the world's largest democracy...Go to Supreme Court to make mayor despite majority in Delhi…Go to the Supreme Court to make the Deputy Mayor...Have to go to the Supreme Court to conduct the budget session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha…The search for democracy continues…,” Mann had tweeted in Punjabi on Sunday evening.
Mann, during his recent tour to Gujrat, had minced no words to say that the Raj Bhavans across the country has turned into BJP headquarters.
Notably, the State Cabinet had decided to summon the budget session from March 3, for which the Governor’s nod is required. For the same, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – led State Government had written to the Governor to approve the summoning of the session.
Responding to the same letter, the Governor, in a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, reminded him the tweet and letter in which Mann had not only refused to respond to the “significant” issues raised by Purohit, but had also apparently challenged his authority while asking Purohit to first “explain the qualifications” for appointing a person on the coveted post of the Governor by the Centre.
“Since your tweet and letter both are not only patently unconstitutional but extremely derogatory also, therefore, I am compelled to take legal advice on this issue. Only after getting legal advice. I will take decision on your request,” Purohit said in his letter, in which he had reproduced the contents of his tweet and letter with its English translation.
In the said tweet, Mann (on February 13) had declared that his Government was answerable to the people of Punjab and not to “any person appointed by the Centre”.
Mann’s assertion had come after Purohit, in a strongly-worded letter, lambasted him for not replying to his letters and treating it “with contempt”. Setting fortnight as a deadline, Purohit had asked the Chief Minister to furnish information on various counts, including criteria of selecting Principals for recent Singapore tour, appointment of a “tainted” person as Punjab Information and Communication and Technology Corporation Limited (Punjab Infotech) chairman, among others.
A day later (on February 14), Mann shot off a brief letter to the Governor asking him to “explain the qualifications being adopted by the Government of India (GoI) for appointing a person to this coveted post” before asking the State Government to explain criteria for sending principals to Singapore.
Mann, in his letter to the Governor, had stated, “The residents of the State want to ask that in dearth of any fixed criteria for appointing a person to the post of Governor, how the Union Government appoints the Governors to various states.”
“When there are no fixed qualifications laid down in the Constitution of India for this appointment, how the Governors are appointed,” Mann had asked, while urging the Governor to explain this so that the knowledge of Punjabis can be enhanced.
The Chief Minister had said that prior to enquiring him about the selection process to send Principals to Singapore for training, the Governor must answer this question. “All the issues raised by the Governor in a letter to me are the issues related to jurisdiction of the state. For these issues, I am accountable to the three crore Punjabis who have elected me with a whopping mandate,” Mann had stated.
Also speaking during a special orientation programme for the legislators in Vidhan Sabha, Mann had asserted, “Punjab’s decisions should be taken by elected representatives and not by selected ones.”
The fresh round of slugfest started with Purohit writing a letter to the Chief Minister seeking full details regarding the selection of school principals sent to Singapore for training recently, along with the expenditure incurred on the same. Along with this, he also attached four other letters on different issues that he had raised in the past few months, asking the Chief Minister to reply within a fortnight.
Purohit had accused Mann that he “never cared to reply” to his letters in the past, while treating the same with contempt.
He had also reminded Mann that the people did not elect him to run the state according to his “whims and fancies", but he was “bound" to furnish any information sought by Raj Bhavan under the Constitution.
In fact, the ruling party had even accused Purohit of acting “at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)”, while demanding that he should be shifted from the State immediately.
AAP says it is victory of Democracy, Constitution, 3 cr Punjabis
On Tuesday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), thanking the Supreme Court for approving the Punjab Assembly session, described the development as the “victory of democracy, the Constitution of Dr BR Ambedkar, and three crore Punjabis, which elected the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab”.
AAP Punjab unit chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said that it is a benchmark decision that the Governor must not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the elected Government and allow smooth functioning of the State for the betterment of common people.
Urging Governor Banwarilal Purohit to maintain dignity, Kang said that they should not turn the Governor House into a political house of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but rather cooperate with the Mann Government for inclusive development of Punjab.
“Now, the Punjab government will hold the session from 3 March to take pro-welfare decisions in the House,” he said.
Kang said that the Governor has to act according to the aid and advice of the council of ministers. “Even Article 163(1) of the Constitution says that there shall be a council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his functions, except in so far as he is by or under this Constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion,” he added.
Hitting out at the BJP-led NDA government, he said that saffron party wanted to eliminate democracy by using the LG office in Delhi and Governor House in Punjab but the Apex Court has once again saved the murder of Constitution and empowered the council of ministers as per the powers given to them under the Constitution.
