CHANDIGARH (The Stellar News): Days after an Advocate at Punjab & Haryana High Court, Hemant Kumar, raised the issue regarding non-issuance/non-publication of Notification in Punjab Government Gazette regarding Election of current 16th Punjab Legislative Assembly Speaker, Kultar Singh Sandhwan, who got elected as such on March 21, 2022, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Secretariat on May 4, 2022 has got the Notification in this regard published in State Gazette i.e. over seven weeks after Sandhwan’s election as Speaker.
Although the notification regarding Election of Sandhwan as Speaker was uploaded on official website of Punjab Assembly but it was not published in State’s Official Gazette which should have been done immediately since Speaker of State Legislative Assembly is a Constitutional Post under Article 178 of Constitution of India and Election of a MLA to that post ought to be notified/published immediately in the Gazette. Hemant also wrote in his letter that five years back, when Rana KP Singh of Congress was elected Speaker of then 15th Punjab Assembly on 27 March 2017, the Gazette Notification in Punjab Government Gazette was published the same day.
Be that as it may, the current 16th Punjab Legislative Assembly was duly constituted with effect from March 11, 2022 after issuance of statutory notification by Election Commission of India (ECI) under Section 73 of Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Its First Session was however summoned via a Gazette Notification dated March 16, 2022 issued under Article 174(1) of Constitution of India by Banwari Lal Purohit, Governor of Punjab on (& from) March 17, 2022 i.e. after Bhagwant Mann took Oath of Office and Secrecy as Chief Minister of Punjab. However, 10 Cabinet Ministers were inducted in Mann’s Cabinet on April 19 2022. i.e. a couple of days after all of them took Oath as MLAs in the House on March 17, 2022. After administering of Oath to all newly elected MLAs by Pro tem Speaker, Inderbir Singh Nijjar, who is AAP MLA from Amritsar South, there was election of Sardar Kultar Singh Sandhwan, AAP MLA from Kotkapura as regular Speaker of Punjab Assembly on March 21, 2022. It was followed by passage of two Bills viz. Punjab Appropriation Bill, 2022 and Punjab Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill, 2022 in the House.
Thereafter on March 22, 2022 the House was adjourned sine-die by newly elected Speaker Sandhwan which was further re-convened on April 1, 2022 for a special one day Session after which it was again adjourned sine-die by Speaker Sandhwan at the conclusion of its Sitting the same day. Meanwhile, Hemant points out that the House was finally prorogued by the Order of Governor of Punjab issued under Article 174(2)(a) of Constitution of India on 16th April 2022. However, Gazette Notification regarding such prorogation was published two days later in Punjab Government Gazette Extraordinary on 18th April, 2022 by Punjab Vidhan Sabha Secretariat for the reasons best known to its officials.In between, on April 13, 2022, Bhagwant Mann Cabinet approved the Punjab Rural Development (Amendment) Ordinance which is however yet to be promulgated by Governor even after passage of over 3 weeks.
Hemant has raised an objection both with Government of Punjab as well as Punjab Raj Bhawan over the timing of approval of aforesaid Ordinance since Punjab Assembly was very much in Session on April 13, 2022 since it was not prorogued on that day. Prorogation means formal discontinuance of meetings (Session) of the House by the State Governor by issuing a formal Order which is different from adjourning the House sine-dine, which however is ordered by the Speaker. Legally (read constitutionally) speaking, no Ordinance can be either approved by the State Government (Cabinet) or even promulgated by the Governor whilst Assembly is in Session since the very first constitutional requirement for promulgation of Ordinance under Article 213 of Constitution of India is that the State Legislative Assembly should not be in session, asserts Hemant. Till date, there has been no satisfactory reply neither from the Punjab Government nor Punjab Raj Bhawan in this regard although Hemant got an email from Chief Minister’s Office a few weeks back from where he came to know that the point raised by him has however been referred to concerned higher authorities including General Administration Department and Parliamentary Affairs Department.
