Fresh Chapter in Punjab Governor-Mann Government Feud, This Time over Top Academic Appointments
By: Swati Bhan
Edited By: Pathikrit Sen Gupta
Last Updated: October 18, 2022, 18:10 IST
Chandigarh, India
Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit (R) and chief minister Bhagwant Mann. (File pic/ANI)
The governor on Tuesday asked the chief minister to remove Satbir Singh Gosal from the post of vice chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Ludhiana
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In what has triggered tension between Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit and the Bhagwant Mann government, the former on Tuesday asked the chief minister to remove Satbir Singh Gosal from the post of vice chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Ludhiana.
Terming Gosal's appointment as "totally illegal", the governor, who is also the chancellor of PAU, said Gosal was appointed by the Punjab government "without following UGC norms and approval of the Chancellor". The governor has asked the chief minister to immediately remove the VC. The order comes just a week after the governor returned the file pertaining to the appointment of cardiologist Dr Gurpreet Singh Wander as the new vice chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, saying "proper procedure has not been followed".
The governor, who is also chancellor of the university, had taken objection to the violation of the laid-down procedure of sending a panel of three names. The CM had announced Dr Wander's name before clearance from the chancellor's office. The post has been lying vacant since July after Dr Raj Bahadur resigned citing "humiliation" by health minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra.
"As per the procedure, a scrutiny committee checks the eligibility of the candidates before a search-cum-selection committee, headed by the chief secretary and other experts, shortlists a panel of three candidates for sending it to the governor for clearance," officials in the governor's office had said.
The recent order has yet again ignited a war of words between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Senior minister in the Mann government Kuldeep Dhaliwal accused the governor of working at the behest of the BJP. "The governor should read the act first. The university doesn't come under UGC. It is a letter drafted by the BJP and not the governor," said Dhaliwal.
But the BJP on the other hand accused the Mann government of deliberately disgracing the governor's constitutional status. BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann was deliberately trying to run down the grace and dignity of the governor's office repeatedly.
Commenting on the Punjab Governor's order to the chief minister to remove the newly appointed PAU VC Dr Gosal, Chugh said it was the second incident within a fortnight in which the chief minister had violated the constitutional provisions to disgrace the governor.
He said the AAP government was deliberately challenging the authority of the governor and is thus causing a constitutional breakdown in the state. "Such incidents are not only bringing disgrace to the accomplished personalities but are also demonstrating how bankrupt the state government has become in discharging its responsibilities and duties," Chugh added.
Chugh said the AAP government was deliberately and calculatedly trying to disgrace the constitutional institutions to earn cheap popularity. He said the chief minister was challenging the rights and duties of the Punjab governor which was a grave sign for the state.
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