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Punjab CM: ‘Unfortunate’ governor doesn’t know if special assembly session was legal
Chief minister Bhagwant Mann says during Capt Amarinder Singh government’s tenure, the assembly was called twice without the permission of the governor as the session had not been prorogued
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday said “it’s very unfortunate” that governor Banwarilal Purohit does not know whether calling of the two-day special assembly session in June was legal or illegal.
On July 17, Purohit wrote to Mann, saying he believed that convening the special session was “a breach of law and procedure”.
Interacting with reporters on the sidelines of an event in Chandigarh to send off a group of school principals to Singapore for training, the chief minister said during Capt Amarinder Singh government’s tenure, the assembly was called twice without the permission of the governor as the session was not prorogued.
Also read: SGPC urges PTC to continue Gurbani broadcast till its channel is launched
Mann said the special session from June 19-20 was convened after consulting constitutional experts. He was responding to a question on Purohit’s letter in which the governor said calling the assembly session was likely a breach of law and procedure and indicated that he may not sign off soon on the Bills passed during that sitting of the House.
Purohit had also questioned the legality of the Bills and had said that he was actively considering seeking the attorney general’s advice on them or referring them to the President.
The governor’s response had come after Mann urged the governor to sign the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, aimed at ensuring a free-to-air telecast of Gurbani from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
It was one of the four Bills passed during the special session.
Mann accused the governor of delaying the signing of the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023. He said with this amendment, the state government would not have any right to broadcasting and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) would ensure the telecast of the Gurbani.
He said that the Bill aims at freeing the undue control of a particular family over the rights to telecast the Gurbani.
Takes on SGPC for benefiting ‘blue-eyed channel of Badals’
Criticising the SGPC for dragging its feet on the live telecast of the Gurbani from the Golden Temple “just to benefit a blue-eyed channel of the Badals”,
Mann said: “Rather than working to ensure that ambrosial nectar of the sacred Gurbani reaches every household with free to air and free of cost telecast, the SGPC has made a U-turn just to ensure that the telecast rights remain in the hands of a single channel.”
He said that surprisingly instead of working in the larger interest of humanity, the SGPC is acting on the whims and fancies of the Badal family by inordinately delaying the matter of free telecast of the Gurbani.
Mann said former Akal Takht acting jathedar Harpreet Singh had a year ago batted for launching a channel for free to air telecast of the Gurbani but the SGPC had been sleeping over the matter. The CM said now too, jathedar Raghbir Singh has not named any channel for the telecast of the Gurbani, but being “more loyal than king”, the SGPC has asked the same channel to continue till it launches its own satellite channel “just to appease its masters”.
He reiterated that if given a chance, the Punjab government can perform ‘sewa’ of making all arrangements for live and free to air telecast of Gurbani within 24 hours. Citing the example of live feed of government events, he said that most of the time the arrangements are made within an hour. Mann said that this will ensure free to air telecast of Gurbani on every satellite and web channel within seconds.
On Friday, the SGPC had appealed to the management of GNext Media (PTC channel) to continue Gurbani broadcast from Golden Temple, until the SGPC’s own satellite channel is established. The SGPC’s agreement with GNext Media, which is telecasting the Gurbani from the Sikh shrine at present, will expire on July 23. PTC is often linked to the Badal family.
