This is quite an unusual stance taken by Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit.
It is very simple under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional provisions, the Union government can take direct control of the state machinery.
This is what is called President's Rule.
"It appears that you are deliberately refusing to give the information asked for by me. I regret to note here that in spite of the clear provisions of Article 167 of the Constitution of India which makes it mandatory for the chief minister to furnish all such information relating to the administration of affairs of the state as the Governor may call for, you have failed to supply the information sought by me," Purohit said in his letter to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
“Before I am going to take final decision regarding sending a report to the President of India under Article 356 about the failure of the constitutional mechanism and take a decision about initiating criminal proceedings under Section 124 of the IPC, I ask you to send me the requisite information sought for under my letters, as also in the matter of the steps taken by you concerning the problem of drugs in the state, failing which I would have no choice but to take action according to law and the Constitution.”
Purohit's missive also said, he had received reports from various agencies regarding the rampant availability and abuse of drugs in Punjab.
“It is common knowledge that they are available in chemist shops. A new trend is observed that they are being sold in government-controlled liquor vends. The Narcotics Control Bureau and Chandigarh Police recently sealed 66 liquor vends in Ludhiana which were selling drugs,” he said.
He pointed out that a recent report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee said that one in five people in Punjab is exposed or addicted to drugs.
“These facts point out to the breaking down of the law and order system in Punjab so much so that now villagers have started protesting on the streets in large numbers and decided to set up their own village defence committees to protect themselves from drugs,” he said.
It may be mentioned that the provisions of the Article 356 gives sweeping powers to the central government and the state Governor(s). But experts have also favoured retaining it saying it is essentially aimed at restoring constitutional propriety after breakdown of governance in a state.
In 2016, after the provision was used in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh against Congress governments in both states, there were talks that the 'Abuse of Article 356' though nothing new in Indian politics was being 'abused' by the Modi government.
Nevertheless likes of Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh and a few BJP leaders have tried to build up an argument that the Congress had no business to talk about constitutional decorum as the grand old party had several times dismissed non-Congress governments across the country over the decades.
“I am pained to point out that there is reason to believe that there is failure of the constitutional machinery in the state,” Purohit said in his letter to Mann.
The governor has also reminded Mann of a Supreme Court judgment dated February 28, 2023, in which the apex court “observed that both the chief minister and the governor are constitutional functionaries who have specified roles and obligations earmarked by the Constitution, and that the governor has a right to seek information from the chief minister in terms of Article 167(b) on matters relating to the administration of the affairs of the state and proposals for legislation”.
“Far from supplying the information sought by me, you have exhibited absence of grace and decorum when you proceeded to make unnecessary and unwarranted observations demonstrating what may only be described as extreme animosity and personal prejudice against me personally, as also the office of the governor.
This flies in the face of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India’s observation that ‘while this court is cognizant of the importance of free speech and expression and the fundamental value embodied in Article 19(1)(a), it becomes necessary to emphasize that constitutional discourse has to be conducted with a sense of decorum and mature statesmanship’, the Governor stated.
“Bound as I am by the duty placed on the Governor under the Constitution to see that the administration is carried on a level which would be regarded as good, efficient, impartial and honest, and that the proposals enunciated by the government are not contrary to the law of the land, I, therefore, advise you, warn you and ask you to respond to my letters and give me the information sought,” he said in the latest letter written to Mann.
Mr. Purohit is in his right to caution the CM. I am still wondering why similar steps weren't taken in Mamata didi's Bengal. In fact no caution was needed to be given there with the kind of post election results violence was witnessed despite the ruling TMC winning both assembly and gram panchayat polls. TMC cadre indulging in violence was good enough reason for the central government to impose President's Rule in Bengal.
ReplyDelete- Kat Patil, Pune