Punjab assembly Speaker says two-day session being held is legal

Chandigarh: Punjab assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan on Friday told the House that the two-day session being held was legal. The assertion came after opposition Congress members sought his ruling in the wake of the governor's observations.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has gone 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 is 'unlawful'.

"If the session is being held it is a legal session. As speaker, this Chair deems the session as legal," Sandhwan informed the House after Congress member Partap Singh Bajwa, who is also the leader of the opposition, sought his ruling in the matter.

Noisy scenes were witnessed in the assembly after Congress MLAs questioned the speaker on whether the session was legal.

Though Sandhwan asserted that the the two-day session was legal, Congress members continued to raise questions on the issue and cited a letter of the governor to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann calling the sitting illegal. 

Bajwa pointed out that Governor Banwarilal Purohit had written that this was an illegal session. 'We do not know whether this session is legal or illegal,' he said and the speaker replied that it was legal.  'I don't have any communication from the governor,' Sandhwan said. 

Bajwa said, "There is a big constitutional crisis in Punjab today. The governor has said this is an illegal session. You are the custodian of the House (speaker)."

"The governor has not given his assent to many bills earlier. If the session is illegal, then the bills which are being brought, it defeats the whole purpose," he said.

In a fresh round of tussle between the Raj Bhavan and the AAP government, the Punjab governor had on Thursday written to the chief minister, withholding his approval for the three Bills, slated to be tabled in the two-day assembly session.

'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.

As soon as the House was to take up the Question Hour, Bajwa and some other Congress MLAs stood up.

"There are many issues in Punjab which have to be discussed... the governor says the session is illegal," said Bajwa again seeking the speaker's ruling.

The speaker asked the Congress MLAs not to disrupt proceedings of the House and told Bajwa that the Question Hour is sacrosanct. Sandhwan asked him to allow it to be taken up first and added that rest of the things could be taken up during the Zero Hour.

"Punjab Vidhan Sabha is for discussing all issues pertaining to Punjab," the speaker said.

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema slammed the Congress MLAs for unnecessarily raising hue and cry, asserting that the speaker has already said that the session is legal. 

Cheema told Congress members that 'the speaker has pronounced that the session is legal. Bajwa sahab the speaker has given his ruling. Now, you should sit down and participate in the discussions'.

However, as noisy scenes continued from opposition benches, Cheema told Congress members that they were running away from discussions in the House. "You don't want to discuss issues like the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal," Cheema told them.

In 1982, Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister, inaugurated its construction work in Kapuri village of Patiala, Cheema said attacking the Congress on SYL issue.

"On what issues will you speak. People of Punjab know Congress destroyed Punjab...You sold waters of Punjab, you destroyed Punjab. SYL land was acquired when your party was in power," he said.

Congress MLAs then rushed to the Well of the House and raised slogans.

The session was called amid a political row over the SYL canal issue following the October 4 Supreme Court directive, asking the Centre to survey the portion of land in Punjab which was allocated for the construction of a part of the SYL canal in the state and make an estimate of the extent of construction carried out there.