Chandigarh: The ongoing dissonance between the Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit and the chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday deepened with the former terming the appointment of Dr Satbir Singh Gosal as Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) vice-chancellor, and asking Mann to remove him from the post without any further delay.
The governor, who also happens to be the chancellor of the PAU, said the state government had appointed Dr Gosal without following the norms of the University Grants Commission (UGC) or seeking his (the chancellor’s) approval.
Governor Purohit held in his letter to Mann that the appointment was done without following the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms and the approval of the chancellor and that this act of the government of Punjab was totally illegal and could not be accepted by any logic.
However, reacting strongly against the governor's decision, the ruling AAP Punjab's chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang held that the governor's order was completely unconstitutional and illegal.
Kang held that as per Section 15A of the Punjab and Haryana Agriculture Act 1970, the authority to appoint the VC of Punjab Agriculture University rests with the Board of Management of the University and not with the Governor. The Board of Management does not require any permission from the Chancellor (Governor) to appoint a VC. The Governor can neither appoint nor remove the VC of PAU, he added.
Kang alleged that governor Purohit is working at the behest of the BJP and he is deliberately interfering in the day-to-day functioning of the government. The Governor is doing this with the aim of defaming the AAP government, he held.
It is pertinent to mention here that just about a week ago, the governor had refused to accept the state government’s decision to appoint cardiologist Dr Gurpreet Singh Wander for the post of vice-chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) and rejected it on October 11, last, asking the state government to send a panel of three candidates for the selection of vice-chancellor as the norms.
Tuesday’s development is being seen as yet another disagreement between the governor and the Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on different issues since September when Purohit had denied his consent for a special session to bring a confidence motion in the state government's favour. The Mann-government had decided to hold this session after several AAP leaders alleged that some BJP leaders were trying to topple the AAP government.
However, though the AAP government later maintained that it would convene a regular session on issues like stubble burning, GST and power supply, it still moved the said motion. Prior to this, Mann and his Cabinet colleagues also publicly criticised the governor for seeking the details of session’s legislative business. Also, recently, Purohit also took exception to Mann’s absence from a reception held in honour of President Droupadi Murmu at the Raj Bhawan.
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