President returns Punjab Bill seeking removal of Governor as Chancellor

• President Droupadi Murmu has refused to clear a Punjab government Bill seeking the removal of the Governor as the Chancellor of state-run universities. The state government has now decided to seek a legal option.

Keypoints

• The Bill, sent to the President in December, was recently returned to the Punjab Raj Bhavan.
• Following a November 10 Supreme Court ruling that “governors cannot sit on state Bills”, Punjab Governor had reserved three pending Bills,
  • The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023,
  • The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and
  • The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 for the President’s consideration. The other two Bills are still with the President.
• The SC gave the decision on November 10 last year. While hearing a petition by the AAP government, the Punjab Governor had been withholding his approval to Bills passed by the state Assembly.
• The officer said, “If needed, the Bill could move the Supreme Court of India. You can say that we are discussing options with some legal luminaries.”
• If the Bill could be brought back to the Vidhan Sabha again, the government would do it and get it passed, he added
• According to government sources, the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was passed by the Assembly as Purohit, Vice Chancellors of state universities, was not clearing the appointments of several experts, stating he was the Chancellor of these universities. But Purohit sent the three Bills to the President in December last year, a month after the SC ruling.
• “The Governor cannot be at liberty to keep the Bill pending indefinitely without taking any action whatsoever. Failing to make a decision and keeping a duly passed Bill pending for indeterminate periods is a course of action inconsistent with that expression,” said the Supreme Court bench.
• The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 seeks to bring an independent mechanism for the selection and appointment to the post of the police chief, while the Sikh Gurudwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 aimed at opening up the rights to telecast Gurbani.

Prelims Takeaway:

• Governor
• President Rule