Governor Banwarilal Purohit announced on Sunday that the Punjab Assembly will convene at 11 am on September 27 following a deadlock over convening.
In a letter, the Governor says that he is summoning the session on September 27 at 11 am in exercise of his powers under Clause (1) of Article 174 of the Constitution of India. Hence, the session can be held without any cloud hanging over it.
Though his announcement was quite toned down compared to the high pitch of the protests against the Governor Purohit in the past four days, the ruling party AAP chose Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan to make the announcement about the session being convened.
According to government sources, the Governor summoned the session after he received a reply to his letter seeking details of the legislative business to be discussed in the House.
Following several parleys between officials in the Punjab Governor’s Office and Chief Minister’s Office, the state government sent details of the business, and the Governor ultimately granted permission. There is no clarity yet as to whether the state government will bring in a confidence motion, or simply discuss an alleged covert operation by the BJP that the AAP Government claims has been launched to topple its six-month-old government, despite the government saying it wants to discuss the Goods and Services Tax, power situation, and stubble burning.
A Special Session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha was originally planned for September 22 by the Punjab Government. After initially allowing the session, the Governor withdrawn his assent, stating that legally the session could not be held solely to bring in a motion of confidence.
As a result of protests, the AAP threatened to appeal to the Supreme Court against the move. In response to the government recalling the House session on Thursday, the Governor demanded to know what legislative business would be conducted there. Also, this was initially opposed by the government, with the CM Bhagwant Mann stating “it’s too much”. After receiving a letter citing constitutional provisions, the Governor asked why the session was being held.
