Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Sunday permitted Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s government in the state to convene its Assembly session in the Vidhan Sabha on September 27.
This will be the Punjab government’s third Assembly session that is scheduled to take place at 11 am in Chandigarh.
“The Hon. Governor, Punjab, has very kindly acceded to our request and summoned the Punjab Vidhan Sabha to meet for its third session on 27.9.2022 at 11.00 AM at Chandigarh,” tweeted Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Speaker, Punjab Assembly.
The Mann government’s Assembly session to present the trust vote was earlier scheduled to be held on Thursday (September 22), whose permit orders were withdrawn by Governor Banwarilal Purohit a day before (Wednesday) citing the “absence of specific rules” to do so (hold a confidence motion).
The assembly was called through the third special session of the sixteenth Vidhan Sabha.
“I, Banwarilal Purohit, Governor of Punjab hereby withdraw my orders, regarding summoning of the sixteenth Vidhan Sabha of the state of Punjab to meet for its third (Special) session on Thursday in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha hall”, the order on Wednesday read.
Addressing a letter to Secretary Punjab Vidhan Sabha, governor Purohit had said that a legal opinion was sought on the entire matter from the Additional Solicitor General of India Satya Pal Jain.
“This matter was examined and a legal opinion was sought from Satya Pal Jain, Additional Solicitor General of India. He has given his legal opinion that there is no specific provision regarding the summoning of the Assembly for considering ‘confidence motion’ only, in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Rules of procedure and conduct of business”, read the letter.
In light of the above provision, the Punjab Governor had withdrawn his offer dated September 20.
Earlier, there were speculations about the session to be held on Tuesday as the Governor had asked the state government for the details of legislative work to be done in this session, but Mann’s government raised questions about the governor and alleged that in 75 years no governor has ever asked the government for its legislative functions.
Reacting to the allegations, Governor Purohit further advised the state government to “read the Constitution”.