Guv’s office returns ordinance on regularising jobs in Punjab

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 30

Punjab Governor Vijayendrapal Singh Badnore is learnt to have sent back to the government the ordinance on regularising the services of over 27,000 contractual/ad hoc employees.

Sources said the Governor had returned the ordinance owing to technical reasons. “An ordinance cannot be issued until the House has been prorogued,” they said.

Interestingly, the 14th session of the Vidhan Sabha was prorogued by the Governor yesterday (November 29). 

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However, to save face, senior officials said the ordinance had been sent again with a request to the Governor to “prorogue the House.”

The SAD-BJP government is banking on the ordinance to woo contractual employees as also the youth before the Assembly elections. 

Earlier, the Governor had refused to give his assent to bringing a money Bill during the special Vidhan Sabha session on November 16. 

The government had proposed the Punjab State Ownership, Utilisation and Imposition of Cess on Water Bill, 2016, to seek charges from non-riparian states for sharing Punjab’s riverwaters. The government failed to get the Governor’s nod. Subsequently, two resolutions were passed in the Vidhan Sabha against the construction of the SYL canal. 

Even the Punjab Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal Land (Transfer of Property Rights) Bill, sent to the Governor’s office in March, is yet to be accorded approval. Badnore assumed office in August, but has yet to grant his assent.

The government sought to bring a Bill for regularising services of employees, since it entails an annual financial implication of Rs 2,500 crore (after the two-year probabation). 

It had proposed to do so during the November 16 Assembly session. However, several objections were raised by the Personnel Department and the Legal Remembrancer on regularising the services of Group A, B, C and D employees. The Bill was not ready at that time. So the government decided on an ordinance.