After West Bengal, Punjab to table Bill to remove Governor as Chancellor of universities today

The cabinet Monday gave its nod to Bill to be tabled in Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday.

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann

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AMID a conflict between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit, the former has decided to replace the Governor as the Chancellor of state-run universities with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

Talking to The Indian Express, Mann said, “We will be bringing a Bill in Vidhan Sabha session on Tuesday. It is a replica of West Bengal government Bill. Once the Act is enacted, the CM will be the Chancellor of state-run universities.”

The cabinet Monday gave its nod to Bill to be tabled in Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday.

The development comes in the wake of an ongoing confrontation between the CM and the Governor over several issues. Earlier, Purohit had said that he wrote 10 letters to the CM but didn’t get a reply to any. To this, Mann had said, “I am going to respond to each and every letter written by him. In the last reply, I will write with my signatures — waiting for the next letter, Yours Sincerely, Bhagwant Mann.”

The government was mulling bringing an Act ever since Purohit had struck down the appointment of noted cardiologist Dr Gurpreet Wander as Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) and later asked the CM to remove Dr SS Gosal as V-C of Punjab Agricultural University calling his appointment “illegal” as there was no approval from the chancellor, who happened to be the Governor.

The decision also follows West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s decision, who passed a Bill in state’s Vidhan Sabha to remove Governor as the chancellor of universities last June. West Bengal decided to appoint the democratic head of the state as the chancellor rather than the constitutional head. The Punjab government had then taken a legal opinion, following which, it decided to go ahead with the Act.