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Punjab governor prorogues budget session, clears 3rd money bill
Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit issued the order to prorogue (terminate) the budget session held in March following a letter from the Vidhan Sabha secretariat in this regard
Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit has prorogued the budget session of the state assembly.
Purohit issued the order to prorogue (terminate) the budget session held in March following a letter from the Vidhan Sabha secretariat in this regard. “The Punjab Vidhan Sabha, which was adjourned sine-die at the conclusion of its sitting on October 20, has been prorogued by the order of governor of Punjab,” Vidhan Sabha secretary Ram Lok Khatana said in a press note on Thursday. The development came days after the Supreme Court had questioned the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for continuing the budget session with intermittent adjournments. Purohit also cleared the Punjab Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which was pending with him.
The issue of prorogation of the state assembly had led to a standoff between the governor and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. Prorogation normally follows the adjournment of the sitting of the House sine die. The budget session, which was convened in March, had continued to date as the AAP government adjourned the sitting of the House instead of proroguing it. The government first held a two-day special sitting on June 19 and 20 and then called another two-day meeting of the House on October 20 and 21 as an ‘extension’ of the budget session.
The governor questioned the validity of sittings held in June and October. The state government moved the Supreme Court against Purohit for not clearing four bills passed in June and withholding prior approval needed for tabling three money bills in the House last month. After the state government moved the court, the governor cleared two money bills. The third one, the FRBM (Amendment) Bill, has also been cleared now. The apex court had on November 10 held that governors lack the constitutional powers to question the validity of an assembly session convened by the elected arm of the state, pulling up the Punjab governor for keeping bills pending. It also did not spare the state government either, saying its actions of keeping the assembly in suspended animation amounted to defeating the Constitution. “If democracy has to work, it has to work in the hands of a chief minister as well as in the hands of governors,” the court remarked. It, however, upheld the speaker’s supremacy in conducting the business of the House or adjourning its sessions. The governor is still to grant assent to the four bills passed by the state assembly in the June session.
