Amid new flare-up over Punjab Bill, a look at key flashpoints in Governor Purohit, Mann govt ties

After a hiatus of a few months, the long-running conflict in Punjab between the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and Governor Banwarilal Purohit seems to have got reignited, with President Droupadi Murmu declining to clear a Punjab government Bill seeking the removal of the Governor as the Chancellor of the state-run universities.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan recently returned the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 to the Raj Bhavan. The Bill, passed in the state Assembly by the AAP government in June 2023, seeks to replace the Governor with the Chief Minister as the Chancellor of the universities.

The Bill along with two other Bills – The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 – were sent by Governor Purohit to the President for her consideration in December 2023 following the Supreme Court’s November 10 ruling that “Governors cannot sit on state Bills”. The apex court’s order came on the Mann government’s petitions contending that Governor Purohit had been withholding his approval to the Bills passed by the Assembly.

In the wake of the President’s decision to return the Bill, the AAP government has decided to explore legal options now. CM Mann criticised the Centre’s move Thursday, saying that “this is not democracy”. He said he would soon hold a meeting to decide on the future course of action on this issue.

“Why should those selected be allowed to choose a Vice-Chancellor of a university instead of the elected ones? This means Governor did not want to give his assent to the Bill. This also means that whichever Bill the Governor would not want to give his assent to, he would send it to the President,” Mann said.

“What kind of democracy is this? We send a