Chancellor of state-run universities should be ‘elected CM’, not ‘selected’, says Mann
President Droupadi Murmu recently returned the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which seeks to replace the governor with the chief minister as chancellor of state-run universities, without her assent.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday stressed that the chancellor of state-run universities should be an “elected chief minister” rather than “selected”, a remark made with reference to the state governor.
Taking a swipe at governor Banwarilal Purohit, Mann said if the governor does not want to give assent to any Bill, then he sends it to the President who returns that bill after a couple of months.
His statement came after President Droupadi Murmu returned a Punjab Bill that seeks to replace the state governor with the chief minister as the chancellor of state-run universities without her assent.
Mann said he will hold a meeting over the issue of the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which has been returned by the President without her assent.
The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was for replacing the governor with the chief minister as the chancellor of state-run universities.
Replying to a question on the Bill being sent back by the President, Mann said such Bills which state that an elected chief minister should be the chancellor were also brought by the governments in West Bengal and Kerala.
“We want that democracy should not be of selected but of elected,” he said.
Speaking on the process for the appointment of the vice-chancellor of state-run universities, Mann said, “If we want to appoint the V-C of Punjabi University, then we will have to give three names to the governor. He will select one of them of his choice. Then who chooses? Is it elected or selected. One should know the culture. What is Punjabi University’s culture, what is the culture of Punjab Agricultural University and other universities.”
Mann said, “We had brought the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, in the Vidhan Sabha. We had brought the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Bill as well and that was also sent there (to the President).
“It means if the governor does not want to pass Bills (give his assent), he sends them to the President and then the President returns them after four to five months. This is our democracy,” he added.
The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and three others Bills were passed by the Punjab assembly in the two-day session in June last year but the governor had called the session “patently illegal”.
In November last year, the Supreme Court held that the June 19-20 session was constitutionally valid and had directed the Punjab governor to decide on the Bills passed by the legislative assembly session.
However, governor Purohit reserved the Bill along with two others -- the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 -- for the President’s consideration in accordance with Article 200 of the Constitution. These three Bills were later sent to the President.
The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was returned by the President without assent a few days ago.
Purohit and Mann have been at loggerheads over various issues, including the appointment of vice-chancellor of the Ludhiana-based Punjab Agricultural University.
The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was aimed at ensuring a free-to-air telecast of Gurbani from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, while the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was to pave the way to bring about an independent mechanism for selection and appointment of suitable persons to the post of state director general of police.
The governor had granted assent to the Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Amendment Bill, 2023, which was aimed at streamlining the functioning of the Punjab Educational Tribunal for government-aided private colleges.