The Supreme Court observed that the discourse between the CM and Governor should not degenerate into a “race to the bottom.”
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On February 28, 2024, the Supreme Court was adjudicating the ongoing confrontation between the Governor of Punjab, Banwarilal Purohit, and the Chief Minister of Punjab, Bhagwant Mann, over the summoning of the state budget session.
The SC bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, agreed on February 28, 2024, to listen to an urgent hearing petition, requested by the Punjab Government, against the Punjab Governor’s refusal to summon the assembly for the budget session on March 3. After the bench granted the urgent hearing, the governor released a letter summoning the session on the said date.
Tussle and war of words
During the past seven months, there have been at least six occasions when the AAP government, led by CM Bhawant Mann, has locked horns with the Governor of Punjab. In all these instances, the governor either sought clarifications or rejected the moves of the state government.
For instance, besides denying permission to hold the budget session on March 3, 2024, the governor rejected the proposal for the appointment of vice chancellor at two universities. The governor gave the reasoning that the appointment of the VCs didn’t follow the UGC norms because instead of three names only one was sent.
On September 22, 2022, the Governor withdrew permission to summon a special assembly session. The agitated AAP government and CM Bhagwant Man labeled it a “murder of democracy.”
BJP chief Ashwini Sharma rebuked the Punjab AAP government and slammed the government for politicizing the issue. The BJP chief said that AAP should respect the governor’s authority as it is the constitutional head of the state.
Twitter politics
On February 13, 2024, Punjab Governor wrote a letter to CM Bhagwant Mann, questioning the various decisions taken by the government in the past couple of weeks, including a lack of transparency in selecting teachers to send for training.
Bhagwant Mann gave a fuming reply on Twitter in response to Governor’s letter, tweeting that he and his government are accountable to three crores of Punjabis according to the constitution and not to any constitutional Governor appointed by the Central Government.
In response to this inflammatory tweet by CM, the constitutional head of state responded that CM’s Tweet and letter are not only patently unconstitutional but also extremely dangerous, and it required legal advice.
Race to the bottom
The petition filed by the AAP government became infructuous as Governor summoned the assembly. Still, Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, also a congress leader, who was representing the AAP government refused to let the issue go by, requesting the Supreme Court to take a bird-eye view on the present state of a tussle between the Governor and CM.
The apex court observed that the level of discourse between CM and Governor must not degenerate into a “race to the bottom”. Justice PS Narasimha observed that CM and Governor have “mature statesmanship” and “decorum” in their communication with each other.
Dereliction of Duties
While dissecting the constitutional issue of the case, the bench observed that both Purohit and Mann were derelicts in discharging their duties under the constitution.
Supreme Court observed that Mann failed in performing his duties under Article 167 which requires that the CM of every state should communicate with the Governor of the state
The apex court added that though Governor is entrusted with the authority to summon the house under Article 174 this is not discretionary power of the Governor under the present constitutional scheme, and he has to follow the aid and advice of the CM.
