Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on October 20 said his government will move the Supreme Court against the Governor's refusal to give approval to the three Bills which were to be tabled in the two-day session of the State Assembly.
The House was then adjourned sine die, hours after proceedings began on the first day of the session.
Mr. Mann told Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan that his government will not table any of the Bills in the House, and urged him to adjourn the Assembly sine die.
"I do not want that any tussle with the governor escalates further," Mr. Mann said.
"I request you that we will not table any Bill till we ensure Punjabis that this session is legal, and the Governor will have to give all approvals (to Bills) and also sign them," the Chief Minister said and added that "we will knock the door of the Supreme Court in the coming days".
Following Mr. Mann's request, a resolution to adjourn the Assembly sine die was moved, and then passed by the House.
In a fresh round of tussle between the Raj Bhavan and the AAP government, Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on October 19 wrote to the Chief Minister, withholding his approval for the three Bills.
"Strongly suggesting" the Bhagwant Mann government to call either a monsoon or winter session instead of choosing to continue on this "precarious course", he had said.
Governor Purohit had said if the government continued with the "patently illegal session", he would be compelled to consider an appropriate course of action, including reporting the matter to the President.
Earlier in the day in the Assembly, noisy scenes were witnessed after Congress members questioned the Speaker on whether the session was legal, citing the observations made by Mr. Purohit.
Mr. Sandhwan told the House that the two-day session was legal. "If the session is being held it is a legal session. As Speaker, this Chair deems the session as legal," he informed the House after Congress member Partap Singh Bajwa, who is also the Leader of the Opposition, sought his ruling in the matter.
Though Mr. 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. Mr. Bajwa pointed out that Mr. 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," Mr. Sandhwan said.
Mr. 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.
The ruckus continued in the Question Hour. The Speaker asked the Congress MLAs not to disrupt proceedings of the House and told Mr. Bajwa that the Question Hour is sacrosanct.
Mr. 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.
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.
Mr. 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".
The AAP government on October 20 went 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 "unlawful".
On the first day of the session, members paid tributes to leaders and noted personalities who passed away recently, including former chief election commissioner MS Gill and renowned agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan.
The House also paid its respect to Agniveer Amritpal Singh. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had said his government will accord the status of a martyr to Amritpal Singh who died in Jammu and Kashmir last week, amid a row over the army not according a military funeral to the soldier.
Amritpal Singh, who was serving with a battalion of Jammu and Kashmir Rifles in Poonch sector, died on October 11. The Army has said that he died by suicide and that military honours were not extended to his funeral.
The Army asserted that it does not differentiate among soldiers based on whether they joined the force prior to or after the implementation of the Agnipath scheme.
The House paid tributes to those who passed away between the period from the end of the previous session (held in June) and the beginning of the current session.
Tributes were also paid to former Deputy Speaker Bir Devinder Singh, former parliamentary secretary Gurbinder Singh Atwal, singer Surinder Shinda and Colonel Manpreet Singh, who was killed in a gunfight with terrorists in Kashmir last month.
The House also paid tributes to Sepoy Pardeep Singh, Sepoy Parvinder Singh, Sepoy Tarandeep Singh, former MLA Ram Kishan Kataria, freedom fighters Jaimal Singh, Anokh Singh and Darshan Singh.
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhwinder Kumar raised a demand in the House for paying tributes to those who were killed in the violence in Manipur and Nuh (Haryana).
Congress MLA Raj Kumar Chabbewal demanded that the names of those who died during the recent floods in the State be included in obituary references.
A two-minute silence was observed in the memory of departed souls.
Those in distress or having suicidal tendencies could seek help and counselling by calling any of the following numbers:
Asha Helpline Chandigarh: +91 172 2735436, +91 172 2735446
