Chandigarh: Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann are at loggerheads once more.
A day after Purohit shot off a strongly-worded letter to the CM complaining that his communications to the Aam Aadmi Get together authorities within the state, in search of data on a number of points, has gone unanswered, Mann wrote again saying he was “not accountable” to an appointee of the central authorities, however solely to the folks of Punjab who elected him.
Purohit has stated Article 167 of the Structure authorised him as Governor to hunt data as a matter of proper, to which the state authorities was sure to answer. He additionally warned the CM of in search of authorized recommendation if the latter didn’t reply to his queries.
In his letter, Purohit had questioned the idea of number of a batch of 36 college principals despatched to Singapore for coaching by the state authorities.
On 4 February, Mann had flagged off the principals’ journey from Chandigarh, as they left to take part in a four-day skilled trainer coaching seminar, between 6 February and 10 February.
In a pointy retort, the Chief Minister’s Workplace in a press assertion issued Tuesday stated: “You might have requested me to offer particulars of the factors adopted by my authorities in deciding on the principals who had been despatched to Singapore. Please inform the folks of Punjab on what foundation and by what standards are governors appointed?”
Right here’s a lowdown on the 5 main points that the Governor has highlighted in his newest letter to the CM Monday.
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5 main points
In his letter to the CM Monday, the Governor sought data concerning the way during which 36 principals of presidency faculties had been chosen to be despatched to an all-paid-for “data sharing” journey to Singapore this month. The Governor stated that he had come to know from information studies that the way during which the principals had been chosen and despatched was fraught with “malpractices” and “illegalities”.
“I due to this fact request you to ship me standards and particulars of your entire choice course of. Please give element if it was extensively printed all through Punjab,” wrote the governor, in search of “particulars of whole expenditure incurred on travelling, boarding and lodging and bills in direction of coaching” of the principals.
When the principals returned on 11 February, a particular operate had been organised in Delhi to welcome them again. The occasion was attended by Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Get together chief Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
Secondly, the Governor questioned the appointment of Guninderjit Singh Jawanda as chairman of the Punjab Data and Communication Know-how Company, on the bottom that his identify seems in a case of alleged kidnapping and land grabbing. The state authorities named Jawanda the company chairman on 4 February.
Jawanda is the chairman of the Bhai Gurdas group of faculties in Sangrur, the hometown of the CM. Jawanda has additionally served because the state joint secretary of the commerce wing of the Aam Aadmi Get together.
In September 2021, a petitioner recognized as Nimrat Kaur Manshahia had moved the Punjab and Haryana excessive court docket towards Jawanda and 21 others, alleging that her husband Preetinder Singh Manshahia was kidnapped by them to seize his property, with the assistance of the police.
ThePrint repeatedly reached Jawanda on name for his response to the Governor’s letter and the allegations towards him, however obtained no response. His workplace employees on the company stated he’s but to take cost of his new place.
Thirdly, in July final 12 months Purohit had sought a complete report from the Punjab authorities over allegations that between 2007 and 2010, over 2 lakh college students of the Scheduled Caste group dropped out of faculties for need of the SC post-matric scholarship price Rs 2,000 crore supplied by the state authorities. The matter was highlighted by the chairperson of the Nationwide Fee for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) Vijay Sampla.
Later, Mann too had ordered a probe into alleged irregularities within the post-matric scholarship scheme that had surfaced in the course of the Congress regime within the state.
Nevertheless, the Governor, in his letter stated that no report had been shared by the Mann authorities over this situation.
One other level of competition between the CM and the Governor is the appointment of biotechnologist S. S. Gosal because the vice-chancellor of Punjab Agriculture College, Ludhiana in August 2022. The Governor has alleged that the appointment wasn’t made in accordance with College Grants Fee (UGC) norms.
The Mann authorities shot off a letter to the Governor saying that Gosal’s appointment wasn’t “unlawful” and requested Purohit to not interact in a “proxy warfare” with the state authorities. Nevertheless, in November, the Governor insisted on Gosal’s elimination. The Mann authorities ignored the “order” and Gosal continues to be the PAU V-C.
Lastly, in his letter to the CM, the Governor additionally identified that he had raised the problem of the Punjab authorities permitting outsiders to take a seat in its official conferences. The Governor cited a letter written to him by Chief of Opposition Pratap Singh Bajwa in December final 12 months, that one Naval Aggarwal was attending official conferences of the Punjab authorities together with these being chaired by the chief secretary. Bajwa had claimed that the CM had “breached oath of secrecy”.
Aside from Bajwa, the problem was highlighted by different opposition leaders as nicely. Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal had tweeted an image of Naval Aggarwal attending a high-powered assembly of the Punjab police with the chief secretary.
Aggarwal heads the Punjab Good Governance Fellowship programme — a collaboration between the Authorities of Punjab and the Indian College of Enterprise (ISB). As a substitute of taking any motion on Purohit’s letter, the Punjab authorities is reportedly all set to nominate Aggarwal as an officer on particular obligation (OSD) to the minister for governance reforms.
(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)
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