'Playing with fire': SC pulls up Punjab Governor for not giving assent to Bills

The Supreme Court on Friday, November 10, pulled up Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit for not giving assent to bills passed by Assembly and said "you are playing by fire". A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra told both the Punjab government and the governor, "Our country has been running on established traditions and conventions and they need to be followed. "The court questioned his power to term the assembly session as unconstitutional. The court termed the Governor's inaction a matter of "serious concern" and said it is not happy with what is happening in the state. The bench also questioned the Punjab government on why it adjourned and not prorogue the budget session of its assembly. 

"Democracy has to work in the hands of the Chief Minister and in the hands of the governor," it said, adding that it will pass a short order to settle the law on the issue of governor's power to give assent to bills. On November 6, the top court had said that state governors must not be oblivious to the fact that they are not elected representatives of the people. It voiced its concern over Raj Bhavans not acting on bills passed by the state legislatures, and directed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to place on record the details of action taken by the Punjab Governor on the bills cleared by the assembly.The Punjab government had earlier moved the top court alleging delay in Governor Banwarilal Purohit's giving assent to bills passed by the state assembly. Punjab Governor Purohit has given his nod to 22 of the 27 bills passed by the Punjab Assembly during the term of the current Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government. The recent feud between Purohit and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led government pertains to three money bills that were proposed to be tabled by the State during a Special Session of the fourth Budget Session on October 20.However, in his earlier letter to the Punjab Chief Minister on October 19, the Governor had withheld his approval to the three money bills. Later, on November 1, Purohit gave his assent to two of the three money bills, days after he wrote to Mann, saying he would examine all the proposed laws on merit before permitting those to be tabled in the Assembly.