Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Monday questioned the selection of school principals for a foreign trip, drawing a sharp response from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann who said his government is only answerable to Punjabis and not a Centre-appointed governor.
The row erupted after Purohit wrote a letter to Mann asking for details on the selection of government school principals sent to Singapore for a training seminar, saying he has received complaints of "malpractices and illegalities".
Claiming that Mann "never cared to reply" to his letters in the past, Purohit told the chief minister that people did not elect him to run the state according to his "whims and fancies" and that as per the Constitution, he is "bound to furnish" any information sought by Raj Bhavan.
According to the letter, the governor had earlier written to Mann on the "illegal" appointment of Punjab Agricultural University vice-chancellor and promotion of an IPS officer who was shunted out for alleged misconduct, among other issues.
He asked the chief minister to reply to his letter within a fortnight, failing which he would seek legal advice for further action.
Taking to Twitter, Mann said his government is accountable only to 3 crore Punjabis.
"Honourable Governor Sir, your letter was received through the media... all the issues mentioned in the letter are State subjects... According to the Constitution, I and my government are accountable to 3 crore Punjabis and not any governor appointed by the central government. Treat this as my reply," the chief minister said in a tweet in Punjabi.
The Punjab government had sent 36 government school principals to a professional teacher training seminar in Singapore from February 6 to 10.
"I have received complaints in respect to the selection of principals for sending them to Singapore for training. The complainants point out certain malpractices and illegalities in the selection of these principals. The allegation is that there is no transparency," Purohit said in his letter.
"I, therefore, request you to send me the criteria and details of entire selection process. Please also give detail if it was widely published throughout Punjab. As per news reports... the first batch has come back, (so) please let me have details of total expenditure incurred on travelling and boarding lodging and expenses towards training," he said.
The governor said he has also received a complaint regarding Jawanda's appointment as the Punjab Information and Communication Technology Corporation Limited chairman.
"As per another complaint, I came to know that you have appointed Sh. Gurinderjit Singh Jawanda as Chairman of Punjab Information and Communication and Technology Corporation Ltd., which is a very important and prestigious Corporation of Punjab. As I have been made aware that the name of Sh. Gurinderjit Singh Jawanda appears in a kidnapping and property grabbing case, please send me full detail of this case," Purohit said.
Further in his letter, Purohit expressed displeasure over Mann choosing to "ignore" his letters in the past.
"In one of the letters addressed to me, you had mentioned that because of the heavy mandate by the people of Punjab you are the CM, I fully agree with you on this count but you should also keep it in mind that people of the State elected you for running the administration as per the Constitution and not as per whims and fancies.
"As per Art. 167 of the Constitution of India, you are bound to furnish me full details and information asked by me, but you have not furnished the same and never cared to reply and treated all my queries with contempt," Purohit stated.
He said he did not reveal his previous letters to the press to maintain cordial relations between Chief Minister's Office and Raj Bhavan, but he was "compelled" to do so now as "it appears to me that you have decided to ignore my letters".
"In spite of my detailed letter dated 14-12-2022, you chose to ignore all misdeeds of Kuldeep Singh Chahal, IPS. You have not only promoted him but also posted him as Commissioner of Jalandhar and that too the orders being issued just before 26th January, knowing very well that Governor is to unfurl the national flag at Jalandhar," Purohit said.
"On this issue, it seems that this officer was your blue-eyed boy and you chose to ignore facts that were brought to your notice by this office," he charged.
Chahal, a Punjab cadre IPS officer, was removed from the post of senior superintendent of police, Chandigarh, for his alleged "misconduct" last year.
He was promoted to the rank of deputy inspector general after he was sent back to Punjab.
In a letter dated January 4, Purohit said, he wrote about the presence of a non-appointee of the government, Naval Aggarwal, in meetings of senior officers where sensitive and confidential matters related to the country's security were discussed.
He also said that he had written to Mann regarding the "illegal" appointment of the Punjab Agricultural University vice-chancellor in November last year, seeking details of advertisements and on the issue of 2 lakh Scheduled Caste students being "compelled to discontinue their studies due to non-disbursal of scholarship".
Asking Mann to furnish information on all these issues within a fortnight, Purohit said, "If you fail to provide this information within the stipulated time period... I will be compelled to take legal advice for further action since I am duty-bound to protect the Constitution."
AAP MP Raghav Chadha termed Purohit's letter a "blatant threat" to the Punjab government.
"The blatant threat issued to a democratically elected government by the Punjab Governor in his letter only goes on to prove that his office stems from a colonial mindset," Chadha tweeted.
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