Chandigarh: The budget session of the Punjab Assembly will begin on March 3. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta of the Punjab government gave this information to the Supreme Court during a hearing on Tuesday.
The Solicitor General told the Supreme Court that the Governor has passed an order to convene the Assembly at 10 am on March 3.
During the hearing, a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said that the Punjab government is obliged to give the information sought by the Governor. On the confrontation between the Punjab government and the governor, the Supreme Court said that constitutional authorities have to maintain a certain level of dialogue in official communication and statements of CM like who are you or how Centre selects you, are inappropriate.
At the same time, it is also the duty of the Governor to accept the recommendations of the Cabinet when the Assembly is called. Earlier, the Punjab government said that the Governor was not following the Constitution.
Earlier, the Punjab government had approached the Supreme Court on Monday against the Governor’s refusal to allow the budget session of the Assembly. The Punjab government filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday morning under Article 32 of the Constitution of India through Additional Advocate General Shadan Farasat.
The petition came up for hearing on Tuesday afternoon. In this petition, the Principal Secretary to the Governor of Punjab was first placed as the respondent.
The petition had argued that as per constitutional provisions, the governor has to summon the Assembly as per the aid and advice given by the government.
What was the controversy
The Punjab cabinet had passed a resolution seeking the governor’s permission to convene the budget session of the assembly from March 3.
Governor Banwarilal Purohit had refused to call this budget session for the time being. He also wrote a letter stating that the chief minister’s tweets and statements were quite derogatory and unconstitutional. He is taking legal advice on these tweets and after this, he will consider calling the budget session.
On February 13, the governor had written a letter to the CM Mann seeking information on four other issues, including the selection process and expenses of principals sent for training in Singapore.
In response, the Chief Minister tweeted on February 13 questioning the appointment of the Governor and made it clear that all the issues raised by the Governor are a state subject. The Chief Minister had written that his government was answerable to 3 crore Punjabis and not to any governor appointed by the Central government.