Punjab governor reserves three Bills for consideration of President

Chandigarh: Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit has reserved three Bills, including the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, for the consideration of the President, official sources said on Wednesday.

These bills were passed by the Punjab Assembly in the June 19-20 session. The two other bills are the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

While the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was aimed at ensuring a free-to-air telecast of 'Gurbani' from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was for replacing the governor with the chief minister as the chancellor of state-run universities.

The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023, aims to pave the way to bring about an independent mechanism for the selection and appointment of suitable persons to the director general of police post.

The move came days after the Supreme Court called the June 19-20 session as valid. The governor had earlier described the session as "patently illegal".

On November 10, the Supreme Court had pulled up the Punjab governor for "indefinitely sitting over" some bills passed by the assembly saying, "You are playing with fire".

The apex court had also questioned the state government for repeatedly adjourning the Budget session sine die instead of proroguing it. It, however, upheld the speaker's supremacy in conducting the business of the House or adjourning its sessions.