West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday returned the recommendation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to summon State Assembly on March 7.
Mr. Dhankhar took to social media and said that he had returned the recommendation for “constitutional compliance”. “Hon’ble CM Mamata Banerjee recommendation to summon assembly on March 7 had to be returned for constitutional compliance as Guv ( Governor) summons assembly on the recommendation made by the Cabinet after due compliance of Rules of Business under article 166(3) of constitution,” the Governor said in a tweet.
In the next tweet, Mr. Dhankhar said that “under article 163 ( of the ) Constitution Council of Ministers with CM as head is to aid & advise Governor in exercise of his functions”. “Rules of Business under article 166(3) spell out procedure in detail” and “only option was to remit file and for constitutional compliance”.
In a video message, the Governor said that Constitution permits the Governor to summon the House on recommendation of the Cabinet and the State government has sent him a file on February 17 to summon the Assembly on March 7.
“However, that (the file) had endorsement only of Hon’ble Chief Minister. There was no Cabinet decision. In this situation the only option I had was to send the file to back government so that they send back with constitutional compliances. As and when the government file will come the matter will be considered in accordance with the Constitution,” he added.
The development brings to fore a fresh imbroglio in the relations between the Raj Bhawan and the West Bengal government. Mr. Dhankhar on Thursday called on Ms. Banerjee for a dialogue to sort out differences between the Raj Bhawan and the State government. There has been no response from the Chief Minister. A few weeks earlier, Ms. Banerjee had said that she had blocked the Governor on twitter and alleged him of interfering with governance and trying to influence government officials.
