Blow to Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, President returns Bill on university Chancellor

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, July 16

A Bill seeking to replace the Governor of Punjab with the Chief Minister as the Chancellor of state-run universities has hit the presidential hurdle.

Sent by Raj Bhawan for approval

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• In Dec 2023, The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was reserved by Guv for consideration of President
• Passed during special Assembly session in June last year, Bill seeks to replace Guv with CM as Chancellor of 11 state-run universities

The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was returned without assent by the President of India to the Punjab Raj Bhavan last week, it is learnt.

Official sources in the Raj Bhawan say they are also yet to hear about two other Bills sent for a presidential assent.

In December 2023, the Bill along with two others — The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 — was reserved by Punjab Governor Banwari Lal Purohit for consideration of the President under Article 200 of the Constitution. The Bills were then sent to the President for consideration. Official sources in the Department of Higher Education have confirmed the President has not granted her assent to the amendments sought in the Bill concerning universities.

The Bill was passed by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha last year, following a standoff between the Governor and CM over the appointment of vice-chancellors of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, and Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot.

“Since the amendments made to the Punjab Universities Laws Act have not got the presidential assent, the Governor will continue to remain the chancellor of the 11 state-run universities,” a senior government official told The Tribune.

The three Bills along with the Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Amendment Bill, 2023, were passed during the two-day special Vidhan Sabha session in June last year. The Bills remained on hold for months, after the Governor declared the June session “patently illegal”. In November, the SC declared the June 2023 session constitutionally valid and asked the Governor to take a call on the four Bills. He then approved the Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Amendment Bill, which laid down rules for the functioning of the Punjab Educational Tribunal for government-aided colleges.