Punjab row: Governor warns CM with case, Central rule

The ruling AAP hit back at Purohit, saying the state government was working within the Constitutional framework, and if President’s Rule was to be imposed, it should be done in Manipur and Haryana, both BJP-ruled states.

The Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal accused the AAP of deliberately adopting a “confrontationist attitude”.

In a strongly-worded letter to Mann, the Governor pointed out that he was yet to receive replies to his previous letters.

He told the CM that he had “reason to believe that there is failure of the Constitutional machinery” in the state and that he was contemplating writing to the President.

“Before I… take final decision regarding sending a report to the President of India under Article 356 about the failure of the Constitutional mechanism and take a decision about initiating criminal proceedings under Section 124 of the IPC, I ask you to send me the requisite information sought for under my letters… as also in the matter of the steps taken by you concerning the problem of drugs in the state, failing which I would have no choice but to take action according to law and the Constitution,” the Governor said in his letter.

Purohit said he is bound by the “duty placed on the Governor under the Constitution to see that the administration is carried on a level, which would be regarded as good, efficient, impartial and honest,” and that proposals enunciated by the government are not contrary to the law of the land.

“I have, therefore, to advise you, warn you and ask you to respond to my letters and give me the information sought by me,” Purohit said in the letter, also released to the media.

Reminding Mann of a letter he wrote on August 1, the Governor said, “It appears that you are deliberately refusing to give the information asked by me.” He said that Article 167 of the Constitution makes it mandatory for the Chief Minister “to furnish all such information relating to the administration of affairs of the state as the Governor may call for”.

In his letter, the Governor claimed he had received reports from various agencies on rampant drug abuse in Punjab.

“It is common knowledge that they are available in chemist shops, a new trend is observed that they are being sold in government-controlled liquor vends,” Purohit wrote, citing recent action by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and Chandigarh Police in which 66 liquor vends in Ludhiana were sealed for selling drugs.

He also cited a Parliamentary standing committee report on drug addiction in Punjab. “These facts point to the “breaking down of the law and order system in Punjab” to the extent that villagers have now started protesting on the streets “setting up their own village defence committees” to protect themselves from drugs.

“Please send a report concerning the action taken by you in the matter of these drugs to my office immediately,” Purohit said.

“Far from supplying the information, you have exhibited absence of grace and decorum when you proceeded to make unnecessary and unwarranted observations demonstrating what may only be described as extreme animosity and personal prejudice against me personally, as also the office of the Governor,” Purohit wrote.

He also reminded Mann that “based on legal opinion”, he had informed the government that holding the two-day special session of Vidhan Sabha in June “without any agenda… would be unlawful, (but) you went ahead with the extended budget session and proceeded to make derogatory remarks.”

Mann had then called the Governor’s letters as “love letters.”

Making a case for action against the CM, Purohit said, “Through your derogatory remarks, you have attempted to restrain me from exercising the lawful powers conferred on me under Article 167 of the Constitution. Should I choose to do so, such action may also provide grounds for action under section 124 of the IPC.”

The ruling AAP accused the BJP of trying to interfere in the functioning of governments in non-BJP-ruled states. Party spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said the Bhagwant Mann-led government was working within the Constitutional framework.

“The Governor should maintain decorum and not give the threat of Article 356. If they want to impose President’s Rule, then it should be done in Manipur and Haryana,” Kang said.