‘Legal advice first’: Guv refuses to give nod to summon Punjab assembly budget session

Chandigarh (TIP)- The ongoing row between Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Punjab further deepened on Thursday, February 23,  with the former refusing to summon the Assembly’s Budget session while stating that he would take a decision only after getting legal advice on the “derogatory and unconstitutional” letter and tweet made by the AAP leader in response to a letter from Raj Bhavan on February 13. The governor sent a letter to  Mann to convey his position on the state cabinet’s decision two days ago regarding the summoning of the house of the legislature of the state. The state cabinet on Tuesday decided to convene the budget session of the Punjab assembly on March 3, following which the governor was requested to summon the house.

“Since your tweet and letter both are not only patently unconstitutional but extremely derogatory also, therefore, I am compelled to take legal advice on this issue. Only after getting legal advice, I will take a decision on your request,” Purohit wrote. The letter is likely to further flare up the long-running tussle between Mann and Purohit which has strained their relations.

The governor had, in a letter to Mann on February 13, raised questions about the selection of school principals for a training trip to Singapore, saying he received complaints of “malpractices and illegalities” in this regard.

The AAP government sent 36 government school principals to a professional teacher training seminar in Singapore from February 6 to 10. The governor also questioned the appointment of Guninderjit Singh Jawandha as the Punjab Information and Communication Technology (Punjab Infotech) chairman while pointing out that his name figured in a kidnapping and property grabbing case.

He had also raised questions about the promotion and posting of IPS officer Kuldeep Singh Chahal as the Jalandhar police commissioner; the presence of a non-official Naval Aggarwal in meetings of senior officers where sensitive and confidential matters of security of the country were discussed, and non-disbursal of scholarships to 2 lakh SC students. Claiming that Mann “never cared to reply” to his letters in the past and treated “all my queries with contempt”, Purohit told the CM that people elected him (Mann) for running the administration as per the Constitution and not according to his “whims and fancies” and that he is bound to furnish any information sought by Raj Bhavan. He also asked Mann to reply to his letter within a fortnight, failing which he would be compelled to take legal advice for further action.Mann promptly took to the microblogging site Twitter to tell the governor that he and his government are accountable to 3-crore Punjabis according to the Constitution and not to any governor appointed by the central government.