Punjab government not to get House prorogued, considering removing Governor as chancellor of universities

The Punjab government move comes after Purohit struck down the appointment of noted cardiologist Dr Gurpreet Wander as vice-chancellor (VC) of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) and on Tuesday asked the CM to remove Dr S S Gopal as VC of Punjab Agricultural University calling his appointment “illegal”, saying that it had no approval from the chancellor, who happens to be the governor of the state. As per rules, the governor being the chancellor of the state universities is the final appointing authority for appointment of a VC. The decision to not get the House prorogued comes after Purohit did not allow the government to convene a special session to table a trust motion. He withdrew his approval at the eleventh hour citing rules that the government could not call a special session for it. The government had to call a regular session to table the confidence motion. And that too was allowed only after the governor raised several questions before giving his assent.

The Vidhan Sabha was adjourned sine die on October 3, but the government has not sent the communication to the governor for proroguing the House yet. As per rules, when a Vidhan Sabha session is adjourned sine die, a communication is sent to the governor as soon as possible to prorogue it. The House then goes into a period of recess. When the government wants to reconvene it, then it requires approval from the Cabinet. Following this, the government then recommends to the governor to give his approval for calling the session. A senior functionary of the government said that it was being done on the lines of Delhi Vidhan Sabha where the government had decided to keep the Lt Governor completely out of picture.

“If we do not get the House prorogued, we cannot bring an ordinance as it can be done only during the recess period. It was discussed but then we thought we could take the bill directly to the Vidhan Sabha. In case, we need to bring an ordinance then we can always get the House prorogued,” a government official said on condition of anonymity. A source said that the Punjab government was also discussing if it should follow the pattern of West Bengal wherein the state’s Vidhan Sabha had passed a bill to remove governor as the chancellor of state universities in June this year.