West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday prorogued the West Bengal assembly with immediate effect.
“In exercise of the powers conferred upon me by sub-clause (a) of clause (2) of article 174 of the Constitution, I, Jagdeep Dhankhar, Governor of the State of West Bengal, hereby prorogue the West Bengal Legislative Assembly with effect from February 12, 2022,” Dhankhar tweeted.
The tweet, however, triggered confusion on whether it was the fallout out of the strained relation between the Governor and the Mamata Banerjee-administration.
An hour later, the Governor tweeted again clarifying that he had prorogued the assembly on the recommendation of the Mamata Banerjee-administration. A senior government official too said that it was done on the recommendation of the government.
“It is indicated that taking note of government recommendation seeking proroguing of assembly, Guv in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by article 174 (2) (a) the Constitution has prorogued WBLA w.e.f. Feb 12, 2022,” Dhankhar tweeted.
This is, however, not the first time that the Governor has prorogued the assembly. On February 9, 2021, Dhankhar had tweeted the same thing.
“In terms of Sub-clause (a) of Clause (2) of article 174 of the Constitution of India, Governor of West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar, has prorogue the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from February 15, 2021 taking note of the recommendation dated Feb 15 to this effect,” the Governor had tweeted last year.
{{/usCountry}}“In terms of Sub-clause (a) of Clause (2) of article 174 of the Constitution of India, Governor of West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar, has prorogue the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from February 15, 2021 taking note of the recommendation dated Feb 15 to this effect,” the Governor had tweeted last year.
{{/usCountry}}Article 174 of the Indian Constitution says that the Governor shall from time to time summon the house or each house of the legislature of the state to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session. Clause 2a of the Article says that the Governor may from time to time prorogue the house or either house or dissolve the Legislative Assembly. Clause 2 gives him the power to dissolve the house.
“The Governor’s tweet triggered some confusion. I had a word with Partha Chatterjee, state parliamentary affairs minister and secretary general of TMC. He said that there is no conflict (between Raj Bhawan and state government) on this issue. The Governor has a role to play in summoning, proroguing and dissolving the house. The recommendation of proroguing the assembly went from the state cabinet. The confusion was triggered because the Governor has developed a habit of tweeting everything including an administrative process,” said Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson.