Punjab governor Purohit gives assent to one of 5 pending bills
The assent come days after top court declared the June 19-20 session as constitutionally valid and asked the governor to take decisions on bills that were passed during the sitting
Governor Banwarilal Purohit has granted assent to the Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Amendment Bill, 2023, one of the five bills passed by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha at the centre of the latest row between him and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the state.
The Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Amendment Bill, 2023, was cleared by the governor on Thursday, said official sources in Raj Bhawan. The bill, which aims to streamline the functioning of the Punjab Educational Tribunal for government-aided private colleges, was among four bills passed by the state assembly in the special session held on June 19 and 20 this year and had been pending with the governor since then.
They said other bills passed during the June sitting — the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 — are under consideration. Another bill, the State Vigilance Commission (Repeal) Bill, 2022, which was passed by the state assembly in September 2022, is also awaiting the governor’s assent. Purohit had called the two-day special session, which was convened in June after adjournment of the budget session in March sine-die, as “patently illegal”, casting doubt on the legality of the bills passed during the sitting of the House.
The governor’s assent has come days after the Supreme Court declared the June 19-20 session as constitutionally valid and asked him to take decisions on four bills that were passed during the sitting and were pending with him. The apex court, in its November 10 judgment that was uploaded on its website last week, ruled that governors cannot be at liberty to keep bills indefinitely. The state government had moved the apex court accusing the governor of sitting over bills. The court did not spare the state government either, saying its actions of keeping the assembly in suspended animation amounted to defeating the Constitution.
It, however, upheld the speaker’s supremacy in conducting the business of the House or adjourning its sessions.
After the Supreme Court’s order, chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Governor Banwarilal Purohit had on November 24 exchanged letters over the pending bills. Mann wrote to Purohit requesting him to grant assent to bills “forthwith” in keeping with the “constitutional obligation” and the spirit of democracy as elucidated in the order of the Supreme Court. The governor also responded promptly, writing to Mann that the bills were under his “active consideration” and appropriate decision according to the law would be taken expeditiously in keeping with the apex court’s November 10 judgment.
The Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Amendment Bill, 2023, which has got the governor’s assent, was introduced with a view to streamline the functioning of the Punjab Educational Tribunal and to vest it with more powers in conformity with the provisions governing the working of the Central or State Administrative Tribunals. “It has been felt that the Punjab Educational Tribunal needs to be vested with more powers to make it an effective body for resolving disputes between the management and employees of private aided colleges and schools, by providing it more powers to implement its decisions,” according to the statement of objects and reasons of the bill. The Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Act, 1974, was enacted by the state government with the objective to provide security of service to the employees of the government aided private colleges. The Punjab Educational Tribunal was constituted under the Act and had jurisdiction over the disputes between the employees and managements of the privately managed affiliated colleges.