Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann To Approach Supreme Court After Governor's Refusal On Bills

 Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday said his government will move the Supreme Court against the governor's refusal to give approval to the three Bills which were to be tabled in the two-day session of the state assembly. 

The House was then adjourned sine die, hours after proceedings began on the first day of the session.

Mann told Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan that his government will not table any of the Bills in the House, and urged him to adjourn the assembly sine die. 

"I do not want that any tussle with the governor escalates further," Mann said. 

"I request you that we will not table any Bill till we ensure Punjabis that this session is legal, and the governor will have to give all approvals (to Bills) and also sign them," the chief minister said and added that "we will knock the door of the Supreme Court in the coming days". 

Following Mann's request, a resolution to adjourn the assembly sine die was moved, and then passed by the House. 

In a fresh round of tussle between the Raj Bhavan and the AAP government, Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Thursday wrote to the chief minister, withholding his approval for the three Bills.

"Strongly suggesting" the Bhagwant Mann government to call either a monsoon or winter session instead of choosing to continue on this "precarious course", Governor Purohit had said.

The governor had said if the government continued with the "patently illegal session", he would be compelled to consider an appropriate course of action, including reporting the matter to the President.

The AAP government had on Friday went ahead with the session despite the governor's secretariat having said that the October 20-21 session -- being projected as an extension of the Budget Session -- is "bound to be illegal" and any business conducted during it "unlawful".