Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government seem to be heading for another set of tussle, yet again.
Days after the first batch of 36 school principals from Punjab returned after training at Singapore, the Governor on February 13, 2023 shot a letter to the Chief Minister pointing out that he received complaints regarding the selection of principals for training.
“The complainants point out certain malpractices and illegalities in the selection of these principals. Allegation is that there is no transparency,” he wrote, asking the Chief Minister to send him the criteria and details of entire selection process.
Taking a dig at Mr. Mann for not replying to his other queries, the Governor said that the Chief Minister should keep in mind that people of the State elected him for “running the administration as per the Constitution and not as per whims and fancies”.
“As per Article 167 of the Constitution of India you are bound to furnish me full details and information asked by me, but you have not furnished the same and never cared to reply and treated all my queries with contempt. To maintain cordial relations I have not revealed these letters to press because I thought you will fulfill the mandate of the constitution but now it appears to me that you have decided to ignore my letters and I am compelled to release these letters to the press-media,” said Mr. Purohit in the letter.
Reacting to the letter, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said he was answerable only to the people of the State and not any person appointed by the Centre. He said that all the issues raised by Governor were the issues related to jurisdiction of the State, and for these issues he was accountable to the three crore Punjabis.
Mr. Purohit said he had asked for information on the serious issues including the one in which the two lakh Scheduled Castes students were compelled to discontinue their studies due to non disbursal of scholarship by the government. Also, on my order to remove the “illegally” appointed Vice-Chanceller of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), there has neither been a reply nor any action taken.
The Governor also raised the issue of former Chandigarh Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal. “Inspite of my letter you chose to ignore all misdeeds of Kuldeep Singh Chahal, IPS. You have not only promoted him but also posted him as Commissioner of Jalandhar and that too the orders being issued just before January 26, knowing very well that Governor is to unfurl the national flag at Jalandhar. I had to instruct the DGP that concerned officer should maintain distance during ceremony. On this issue it seems that this officer was your blue eyed boy and you chose to ignore facts that were brought to your notice by this office,” the letter added.
Mr. Purohit said that his letters asking for details of advertisements by the State government are also perhaps lying in cold storage.
“The entire information which has been sought by me may at least now be furnished a fortnight. If you fail to provide this information within the stipulated time period as already sufficient time has passed I will be compelled to take legal advice for further action, since I am duty bound to protect the Constitution,” wrote Mr. Purohit.
The tiff between the Governor and the AAP government has been on public display for a while now in Punjab. In October last year Mr. Purohit termed the appointment of Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) in Ludhiana as ‘illegal’ and asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to remove the V-C. Also, the Governor refused to give consent to the appointment the name of Dr. Gurpreet Wander as the new Vice-Chancellor of Faridkot-based Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), which was announced by the Chief Minister. Mr. Purohit had also slammed the Chief Minister over his absence from the civic reception for President Droupadi Murmu as well.
A few months ago, the Governor and the AAP government were involved in a face-off over holding a special session of the State Assembly for the tabling of a ‘confidence motion’.
