Punjab Government is Constitutionally bound to furnish information to the Governor, says the Supreme Court

On February 28, 2023, the Supreme Court of India heard the matter related to the latest stand-off between Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Punjab Government (Aam Aadmi Party) over convening the state’s budget assembly session. The top Court further said that it is against the Constitutional duty of the Chief Minister to not furnish the Governor with information. This is mentioned clearly under Article 167 of the Indian Constitution that a state government is constitutionally bound to furnish the information needed by the Governor. Additional Solicitor General SP Jain point out that the Apex Court also mentioned to maintain the dignity of language used by all the Constitutional bodies.

The bench said that “The failure of a constitutional authority to fulfill its duty would not be a justification for another to not fulfill his distinct duty under the Constitution.” The case was represented before the Supreme Court bench including the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta representing the Governor stated that “Punjab government’s plea does not survive in view of Governor’s decision to convene assembly as he has summoned assembly for Budget session on March 3.”

The governor, in a letter to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, reminded his derogatory response to a letter received from Raj Bhavan. Also, the Governor highlighted that he was in no hurry to summon the session. The bench added, “the tone of the Chief Minister left much to be desired…Yet on the other hand, the dereliction of the Chief Minister to do so would not allow the Governor to not do his Constitutional duty to summon the budget session.” During the argument, the bench pointed out that under Article 174 of the Indian Constitution, the Governor does not enjoy discretionary powers in summoning the assembly.

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