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Punjab Vidhan Sabha secretariat writes to governor for proroguing budget session
The Vidhan Sabha secretary sent the communication following the go-ahead from the state government in this regard, an official said.
The Punjab Vidhan Sabha secretariat on Wednesday wrote to governor Banwarilal Purohit for proroguing the budget session.
The Vidhan Sabha secretary sent the communication following the go-ahead from the state government in this regard, an official said.
The development came less than a week after the Supreme Court (SC) expressed unhappiness with the Punjab government for continuing the budget session with intermittent adjournments. Official sources in Raj Bhawan said the governor was busy with Jharkhand’s Foundation Day celebrations throughout the day, and the file will be put up to him on Thursday. The state government is likely to call the winter session of the state assembly in the last week of November, another official said.
Convened in March, the budget session has continued till date with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government adjourning the sitting of the House instead of proroguing (terminating) it amid frequent run-ins with the governor. The government first held a two-day special sitting of the state assembly on June 19 and 20, passing four bills, and then called another two-day meeting of the House on 20 and 21 as “extension” of the budget session. Purohit questioned the validity of the June 19-20 session and did not grant assent to the bills.
In October, when the governor withheld prior approval needed to table three money bills in special sitting of the House, the state government moved the SC against him for sitting over bills. Purohit later softened his stance telling the CM in a letter on October 29 that he would examine all the bills on merit and later granted approval to two money bills. The apex court 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 four 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. The governor is still to take a call on the four bills passed by the state assembly in the June 19-20 sittings and pending with him.
