The escalation of confrontation between the Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the state over repatriation of Punjab cadre IPS officer Kuldeep Singh Chahal to the state is reminiscent of similar episodes that have taken place since the AAP government took charge. In a letter written on Tuesday, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had expressed resentment over Chahal's removal from the post of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Chandigarh. The CM said the UT did not seek a list of IPS officers from the state as replacement, as is the norm, before repatriating Chahal. The CM’s letter was in response to Chahal's sudden removal as SSP Chandigarh and his immediate repatriation, without first seeking in writing a panel of Punjab IPS officers as his replacement. Under a well laid out convention, a ratio of 60:40 is to be maintained between Punjab and Haryana for filling the posts in Chandigarh. As per the norm, the SSP of the UT is supposed to be a Punjab cadre IPS on deputation. Mann had also written that he was “surprised to learn that 2009 batch IPS officer of Punjab cadre Kuldeep Singh Chahal has been prematurely repatriated to Punjab”, and that much to the dismay of the state, the charge of SSP Chandigarh has been given to a Haryana cadre IPS officer instead. He said this move was undesirable as it would disturb the balance among the states in running the affairs of the UT of Chandigarh. He further said that if due to some reason SSP Chahal had to be repatriated, then a panel of IPS officers should have been sought as replacement from Punjab well in advance. In response on Wednesday, Purohit, who is the ex-officio Administrator of the Union Territory, wrote a stern letter to the Punjab CM, listing the sequence of events and pointing out that he had actually sought the Punjab IPS panel. Earlier, on October 12, the Governor had confronted the CM over the appointment of cardiologist Dr G S Wander as the VC of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences. Turning down the state’s recommendation, Purohit had said the government could have sent him a panel of three to choose from, instead. Later, on October 19, the Governor also asked the CM to rescind the appointment of Dr SS Gosal as the VC of Punjab Agricultural University, calling it illegal. Mann however dug in his heels and asked Dr Gosal to continue. Purohit also prevented the state government from convening a special session of the Assembly on September 21 to table a confidence motion to demonstrate that the party continued to enjoy the support of all its MLAs. This, after the government alleged an “Operation Lotus” type attempt by the BJP to topple it. Mann had then hit back, calling the Governor's move an “attack” on democracy. The AAP leadership went on the offensive, calling a Cabinet meeting to recommend a regular session on September 27. A day later, the Governor asked the state government to submit a list of legislative businesses that were to be taken up in the session. The government managed to get the Governor's approval, only for him to prorogue the House later. The war of letters has been going on for some time now. On July 22, the Governor had written a letter to CM Mann, seeking a comprehensive report at the earliest on why the government was not paying out the SC scholarship scheme on time, leading to a higher dropout rate in government schools. He had then written, “If it is correct, it would be a most reprehensible violation of constitutional rights of SC students and grave injustice to them.” On April 13, Governor Purohit visited six Punjab districts along the international border over two days to ascertain the security situation, and said rampant illegal mining and sale of drugs were causes of concerns on which the government needed to act. Before this, he sat on a bill that sought to curtail multiple pensions of MLAs, only giving his consent after a long delay. Successive Governors of Punjab have had a cordial relationship with their CMs. Former CM Amarinder Singh used to call on the Governor of his time, although the former hadn't cleared all the bills sent by the state government, among them the amendment bill passed by the Amarinder government on the “office of profit”. That had not stopped Amarinder from socially meeting the Governor afterwards. Similarly, during the Charanjit Singh Channi regime, Purohit had not given his assent to a bill on regularisation of contractual employees. But these were more deviations than the norm. Now such a confrontation between the Governor and the CM seems to have become a regular affair in Punjab.
