Chandigarh: The two-day Punjab assembly session was cut short by a day after chief minister Bhagwant Mann informed the House that since governor Banwarilal Purohit had not given assent to the three money Bills, his government would resume the session after taking the issue to its logical conclusion.
The CM said that his government would file a petition in the Supreme Court on October 30 against the governor’s letter in which he had termed the session illegal. Since the money Bills had not got the governor’s nod, they would not be presented before the House. Later in the day, speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan prorogued the House till further orders. The governor had termed the session illegal and withheld his approval to the money Bills, escalating the tussle between him and the CM.
This is the second time this year that the Mann government will move the apex court over differences with the governor on summoning the assembly session. In March, the government had approached the SC accusing the governor of not “reverting” to the cabinet’s decision of summoning the budget session Attacking the governor, the CM said government had proposed to introduce three financial bills for boosting the state’s revenue, but the governor has backstabbed Punjabis by not giving his assent.
“It is unfortunate that a selected governor is resorting to bullying tactics to prevent a democratically elected government from taking pro-people decisions. This highhandedness of the governor will not stand in legal scrutiny and will be outrightly set aside by the apex court,” said Mann, adding that the governor is creating hindrance is the smooth function of government.
