Prompted by “indifference” of the Punjab government towards information sought by him through letters, Governor Banwari Lal Purohit, on Tuesday, drew the attention of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to the “dereliction of Constitutional duty”.
In a letter to the state chief minister, the Punjab Governor quoted the Supreme Court order passed on the petition of the state government that 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”.
“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 wrote reminding the CM that the information sought through his various letters is yet to be furnished, which, he said, is a dereliction of Constitutional duty as observed by the apex court.
Earlier on Monday, Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit accused the Aam Aadmi Party Government in the state of acting against the Constitution for not responding to his letters, asserting that the CM is bound to reply to the Raj Bhavan.
Hours after Purohit’s remarks, Mann posted a video of the governor’s address on his Twitter handle to stress that Governor Purohit has stopped referring to the AAP-led state government as “my government” at the instance of the Opposition party in the House on 3 March.
He asked the governor to explain why he had “failed” to discharge his constitutional duty by not using the word “my government” during his address.
In February, the governor had refused to summon assembly sessions unless the CM gave a reply to his letters on the number of issues including the process of selecting 36 government school principals for a training seminar in Singapore. Later, the AAP Government moved SC after accusing the governor of “refusing” to summon the Assembly session.
Purohit, however, maintained that he has no hesitation to call the AAP-led state government “my government”.
“I am the governor. All the orders are issued in my name. Why will I not say so? I have no reservation. Not only once, I say it 50 times, it is my government,” he said.