Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann reminds Gov of pending bills, is told: Under consideration

“It is submitted that the five Bills were passed by the Vidhan Sabha which are pending at your end for accord of assent. Four of these Bills were passed in the sittings of the budget session held on June 19 and 20, 2023,” Mann said in his letter to the Governor.

In his reply in the “return dak”, Purohit said, “The five bills mentioned in your letter are under my active consideration and appropriate decision according to law will be taken expeditiously, in keeping with the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court dated 10-11-2023”.

The Governor also, in a swipe at Mann, said that he was “happy to note that the practice of adjourning the Assembly sine die and recalling it without proroguing came to an end finally”. Purohit had on November 15 prorogued the budget session after the Vidhan Sabha secretariat wrote to him requesting it, days after the Supreme Court questioned the Aam Aadmi Party government for repeatedly adjourning the sittings of the House sine die instead of proroguing it.

“I am glad that healthy democratic practices are put on track. In fact, I have been repeatedly advising you to follow the same procedure which was agreed upon by you in the Supreme Court,” the Governor said in his letter to the CM.

Earlier, Mann, while requesting the Governor to give his assent to the pending bills, wrote, “In your earlier communications, you had stated that the validity of the special sittings of the Vidhan Sabha, convened by the Speaker in June 2023 was in doubt, which was an impediment for clearing the bills. The issue regarding the sittings… on June 19 and 20 and October 20, 2023, has been held to be valid by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in its orders pronounced in court on November 10”.

The CM said the five bills, which were “validly” passed by the Assembly and pending the governor’s approval, are — The Sikh Gurudwara (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) (Amendment) Bill 2023, the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill 2023; and the Punjab State Vigilance Commission (Repeal) Bill, 2022.

“I would request that in keeping with the constitutional obligation and the spirit of democracy as elucidated in the orders stated November 10, 2023, of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, these bills be cleared forthwith,” he wrote to Purohit.

The detailed order of the November 10 ruling, uploaded on the Supreme Court website Thursday, said, “The Governor cannot be at liberty to keep the Bill pending indefinitely without taking any action whatsoever. Failing to make a decision and keeping a duly passed Bill pending for indeterminate periods is a course of action inconsistent…The Governor, as an unelected Head of State, is entrusted with certain constitutional powers. However, these powers cannot be used to thwart the normal course of lawmaking by the state legislatures.”

Talking to reporters, Mann said that he has reminded the Governor about the pending bills and hoped that “the Governor will take the decision fast”. Earlier, the government was mulling on whether to table the Bills again to in the upcoming a two-day winter session of the Assembly starting on November 28.

While moving the Supreme Court against the Governor, the Punjab government had sought a judicial declaration that the Assembly session held on June 19 and 20 was “legal and that the business transacted by the House is valid”.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, in the 27-page judgement, held the assembly sessions were valid and this aspect was not open to the governor after the Speaker took the decision.

On November 10, the top court had said the Governor was “playing with fire” as it held that being the titular head of the state he cannot cast doubt on the validity of an assembly session or withhold his decision indefinitely on bills passed by the House.