As Punjab govt moves Supreme Court over pending Bills, Governor Purohit says ready to examine them

Meanwhile, the Governor has written to the CM stating that he would examine these Bills. “Now, we do not know whether our petition would be infructuous or it would be heard,” said a government functionary.

The Governor, in his letter Sunday, wrote, “Though, serious doubts have been raised about proprietary and constitutionality of the summoning of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha as well as the continuation of the session, in violation of the various provisions of Constitution of India as well as the rules of procedure and conduct of business by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, still I have in consultation with all the concerned and in the larger interest of the welfare of people of Punjab, decided to examine all the bills on merits as well as in terms of various provisions of Constitution of India. I will convey to you my decision on each and every bill separately in the coming days.”

He added, “I may point out that after your taking over as Chief Minister of Punjab, I have already given assent to 22 bills out of 27 bills passed by Punjab Vidhan Sabha. Rest of the five bills passed by Assembly as well as three money bills sent by the Government recently are under my consideration and I will take a decision after due consideration on them in coming days. I will convey my decision to you accordingly.”

The Governor had not given his assent to four Bills tabled earlier. Those included the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023. The first Bill was to bring about an independent mechanism in the selection and appointment of suitable persons for the post of the director general of police and the Gurdwaras Bill was aimed at freeing the ‘undue’ control of a particular family over the rights to telecast sacred Gurbani.

Purohit is also sitting on the Punjab University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, tabled on June 20 in a special session, whose legal sanctity was questioned by the Governor subsequently. The Bill had proposed to vest the powers of chancellors of state universities with the chief minister.

The move came amid an ongoing tussle between Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Governor Purohit on several issues, including the selection of vice-chancellors of various universities by the government.

The Governor has also not given his assent to the Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Amendment Bill, 2023, which was passed to streamline the working of the Education Tribunal.

The Governor did not give his assent to these Bills arguing that the session was illegal and Bills passed in such a session need not be taken up by him. However, the requirement of the Centre for states’ ratification of the GST Act has provided a window of opportunity for the state which has still not got the Budget session prorogued.

Later, the Governor did not give his approval to table three GST Bills in the session scheduled on October 20 and 21. He called the session illegal. The government went ahead with the session but cut it short by holding it for one day and the CM announced that the state would move the SC.