Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann has announced that his government will move the Supreme Court against governor Banwarilal Purohit’s refusal to clear three bills and for raising questions on the legality of the two-day assembly session, which was cut short by a day on its first day on Friday.
Expressing displeasure over the situation, the chief minister said his government will not table any of the bills till the matter was settled in the top court, and urged speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan to adjourn the session.
His remarks came even as Sandhwan told the House that the two-day session was “legal”. The House was ultimately adjourned until further orders.
There was no immediate reaction from the governor’s office to Mann’s announcement.
On October 13, the Raj Bhavan strongly objected to the two-day session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha called by the Aam Aadmi Party government from October 20 as an “extension of the budget session”. In a letter to the secretary of Punjab Vidhan Sabha, the governor’s office said that any such extended session is bound to be “illegal”, and any business conducted during such sessions is “unlawful, and ab-initio void”.
Governor Purohit also withheld his approval to three revenue-related bills, escalating the tussle between him and Mann.
{{/usCountry}}Governor Purohit also withheld his approval to three revenue-related bills, escalating the tussle between him and Mann.
{{/usCountry}}The session was called amid an ongoing political slugfest in the state over the construction of a section of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal – a point of dispute with Haryana for several decades – in Punjab.
Addressing the House, Mann said: “The state government will approach the Supreme Court to get the pending bills cleared by the obstinate governor of the state. It is unfortunate that a selected governor is resorting to bullying tactics to prevent a democratically elected government from taking pro-people decisions. This highhandedness of the governor will not stand in legal scrutiny and will be rightly set aside by the apex court.”
Mann said the governor said if the “illegal” session is continued, he will complain to the President.
The chief minister also said his government had planned to bring the bills which were related to revenue. “When money comes to the government, it spends it on people’s welfare. But unfortunately, our honourable governor raises questions on the legality of the session,” he said.
The state government will not table any bills in the House till the matter is resolved in the top court, he asserted. “I request you that we will not table any bill till we assure the Punjabis that this session is legal and the governor will have to give approval to all bills and also sign them afterwards,” he said.