Bhagwant Mann Applauds Supreme Court Decision Amid Dispute With Governor

GG News Bureau

Chandigarh, 1st March. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann thanked the Supreme Court on Wednesday for its “historic” decision and for “saving the existence of democracy,” saying the upcoming state assembly session will now proceed without disruption.

His comments come a day after Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit informed the Supreme Court that he has called the Assembly to convene for the budget session on March 3.

The Punjab government had petitioned the Supreme Court after accusing the governor of failing to “revert” to the cabinet’s decision to call the Vidhan Sabha budget session.

“Thanks to the historic decision of the honourable Supreme Court to save the existence of democracy in Punjab…now the voice of 3 crore Punjabis ‘Vidhan Sabha session’ will go on without any hindrance,” Mann tweeted in Punjabi.

The Supreme Court also reminded both parties that constitutional debates must be conducted with decorum and mature statesmanship.

The top court noted on Tuesday that both the governor and the chief minister had breached their constitutional duties, emphasizing that they are constitutional functionaries with specific roles and obligations outlined in the Constitution.

Not furnishing the information sought by the governor would be a dereliction of the chief minister’s constitutional duty which would allow the governor to not do his constitutional duty to summon the budget session, it said.

The court also said there was no occasion for the Punjab governor to seek legal advice on whether to convene a budget session as he is bound by the aid and advice of ministers.

The feud between the Punjab governor and Mann erupted last week, with Purohit indicating that he was not in a hurry to call the assembly’s budget session and reminding the chief minister of his “derogatory” response to a letter from the Raj Bhavan.

In that February 13 letter, the governor had asked Mann to explain the process of selecting 36 government school principals for a training seminar held recently in Singapore, and raised other issues as well.

Mann responded that he only had to answer to 3 crore Punjabis, not a Centre-appointed governor, and he questioned the Centre’s criteria for appointing governors.

Purohit had called Mann’s responses “patently unconstitutional” and “extremely derogatory,” saying he was forced to seek legal counsel.

Purohit’s letter to Mann came just two days after the Punjab Cabinet decided to call the assembly session on March 3 and asked the governor to do so.

The governor had told Mann that he would decide whether to call the budget session only after seeking legal advice on the CM’s response to the issues raised in an earlier letter.