Punjab Governor reminds CM of dereliction of Constitutional duty

CHANDIGARH, JUNE 13: Prompted by indifference of State Government towards furnishing information sought by Governor through his various letters, the Punjab Governor and Administrator, UT, Chandigarh, Shri Banwari Lal Purohit has written a letter to Chief Minister, Punjab, Bhagwant Mann reminding him of the dereliction of Constitutional duty.

Quoting the relevant portion of orders of the Hon’ble Supreme court of India which were passed on the petition of State Government, which reads: “It would be necessary to underscore that both the Chief Minister and the Governor are constitutional functionaries who have specified roles and obligations earmarked by the Constitution. The Governor has a right to seek information from the Chief Minister in terms of Article 167 (b) on matters relating to the administration of the affairs of the State and proposals for legislation. Once such information is sought, the Chief Minister is duty bound to furnish it. The tones and tenor of the tweet and the letter by the Chief Minister leave much to be desired. Not furnishing the information which was sought by the Governor would be plainly in dereliction of the Constitutional duty which is imposed on the Chief Minister in terms of Article 167 (b),” the Governor reminded the Chief Minister that the information sought through his various letters is yet to be furnished, which is dereliction of Constitutional duty as observed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.

Pertinently, the Chief Minister shared a post on his twitter handle on Monday, claiming that the Governor Punjab used “My Government” in his address in the Budget Session of Punjab Assembly after being reminded by the CM. The Governor wrote that he “instantly accepted the suggestion, while delivering the speech itself ” whereas the Chief Minister has been indifferent to the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme court of India which were passed about four months ago.