Setting the stage for fresh confrontation between Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the former, on Monday, sought details of the process followed in the selection of 36 government school principals for sending them to Singapore for training and the expenditure incurred.
In a letter to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, on Monday, the governor said he had “received complaints related to the selection of principals for sending them to Singapore for training. The complainants pointed out certain malpractices and illegalities in the selection of these principals. Allegation is that there is no transparency. I, therefore, request you to send me criteria and details of the entire selection process.”
Purohit also asked the CM if the process was widely published throughout Punjab. “As per news reports since the first batch has come back, please let me have details of total expenditure incurred on travelling and boarding lodging and expenses towards training,” read the letter.
Questioning a recent appointment by the AAP Government, the governor said as per another complaint he came across, Punjab Information and Communication and Technology Corporation Ltd chairman Gurinderjit Singh Jawanda’s name “appears in a kidnapping and property grabbing case”.
“Please send me the full details of this case,” Purohit said in the letter.
Taking on CM Mann, the governor said in one of the letters addressed to him, the CM had mentioned that because of the heavy mandate by the people of Punjab he (Mann) is the CM.
“… I fully agree with you (Mann) on this count but you should also keep it in mind that people of the state elected you for running the administration as per the Constitution and not as per whims and fancies.”
Purohit said as per Article 167 of the Constitution of India, the CM is bound to furnish full details and information asked by the governor. “… but you (the CM) have not furnished the same and never cared to reply and treated all my queries with contempt,” the governor lamented in the letter.
“To maintain cordial relations, I have not revealed these letters to the Press because I thought you will fulfil the mandate of the constitution, but now it appears to me that you have decided to ignore my letters and I am compelled to release these letters to the media,” he added.
Besides the two issues mentioned above, the Governor sought information on the five other “serious issues” which, he said, the CM “has neither been replied nor any action taken on the same” within a fortnight.
“If you fail to provide this information within the stipulated time period as already sufficient time has passed, I will be compelled to take legal advice for further action, since I am duty-bound to protect the Constitution,” the governor said releasing the letters written to the CM regarding these five issues.
The first letter dated 21 July 2022 concerns alleged “non disbursal of scholarship” by the state government which “compelled” about two lakh Scheduled Caste students to “discontinue their studies “.
The second letter written on 23 November pertains to the governor’s order for removal of “illegally appointed” vice-chancellor of the Punjab Agricultural University.
Purohit said in spite of his detailed letter dated 14 December 2022, the CM chose to ignore all misdeeds of Punjab cadre IPS officer Kuldeep Singh Chahal who was removed by the Punjab governor, who is also the administrator of the Union Territory (UT) Chandigarh, as senior superintendent of police (SSP), Chandigarh citing reports of “misconduct” against the officer.
“You (the CM) have not only promoted him (Chahal) but also posted him as commissioner of Jalandhar and that too the orders being issued just before 26th January, knowing very well that the Governor is to unfurl the national flag at Jalandhar. I had to instruct the DGP that the concerned officer should maintain distance during the ceremony. On this issue it seems that this officer was your blue eyed boy and you chose to ignore facts that were brought to your notice by this office,” Purohit said in the letter.
The governor also sought the chief minister’s reply on the presence of IIT graduate Naval Aggarwal in meetings of senior officers and advertisements issued by the AAP Government.