President returns bill to make Punjab CM chancellor of state universities without assent

CHANDIGARH: A Punjab bill that seeks to replace the state governor with the chief minister as the chancellor of state-run universities has been returned by the President without giving her assent, official sources said on Wednesday. Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and three others bills were passed by the Punjab Assembly in the two-day session in June last year but the governor had called the session "patently illegal." Later in November last year, the Supreme Court held that the June 19-20 session was constitutionally valid and had directed the Punjab governor to decide on the Bills passed by the legislative assembly session.

The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was for replacing the governor with the chief minister as the chancellor of state-run universities. However, Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit reserved this bill along with two others -- the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 -- for the consideration of the President in accordance with Article 200 of the Constitution of India. These three bills were later sent to the President.

The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was returned by the President without assent a few days back, the sources said. The governor and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann had been at loggerheads over various issues including the appointment of vice chancellor of Ludhiana-based Punjab Agricultural University.

Meanwhile, Punjab BJP leader Subhash Sharma on Wednesday hailed the the President's decision. "We have been saying that the CM has been doing unconstitutional work and this development has put a stamp on it. We expect that the CM will now learn a lesson from it and will not indulge in any unconstitutional acts," said Sharma.

The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was aimed at ensuring a free-to-air telecast of 'Gurbani' from the Golden Temple in Amritsar while the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was to pave the way to bring about an independent mechanism for selection and appointment of suitable persons to the director general of police post. The governor had granted assent to the Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Amendment Bill, 2023, which was aimed to streamline the functioning of the Punjab Educational Tribunal for government-aided private colleges.