Chandigarh, June 20: A two-day special session of the Punjab Assembly ended Tuesday with the state's AAP government flexing its muscles against the Centre through two bills and a resolution adopted in the House, which has a miniscule BJP presence. The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 circumvented the role of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) at the Centre in the selection of the state police chief.

The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 replaced the governor with the chief minister as chancellor of state universities. Similar bills have also been passed in West Bengal and Kerala, where the chief ministers have been at loggerheads with the governors appointed by the Centre. Also on Tuesday, the Aam Aadmi Party-dominated Punjab Assembly adopted a resolution slamming the BJP-led central government of "withholding" more than Rs 3,600 crore of the Rural Development Fund. Punjab Government Forms Seven Teams to Ensure Sale of Quality Seeds, Pesticides, Says Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann warned that the state government will approach the Supreme Court if the money is not released within a week.

The bills need the Governor's assent before they become law. There wasn't much debate before the two bills were passed. The main Opposition Congress had stayed a walkout earlier in the day, complaining that no Question Hour or Zero Hour figured in the day's agenda. And the two-MLA BJP had boycotted the special session, claiming it was a waste of taxpayer's money.

The Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 substitutes a provision in the Punjab Police Act, 2007 while laying down the procedure for selection of the head of the police force in state. According to the amendment bill, a state-appointed committee will come up with a panel of three Indian Police Service (IPS) officers to be considered for the post of the Director General of Police. The state government will then pick one.

Under the current practice, however, the states send the names of several eligible officers to the UPSC. A committee headed by the UPSC head typically zeroes on to three officers, from which the state government then chooses one.

Hours before the bill was introduced, Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia slammed the AAP government over the planned amendment, saying it violated Supreme Court directives on appointment of police chiefs. He claimed that the government was bringing in the amendment “through the back door”, avoiding a wider discussion. Punjab Government Exempts 2.25% Stamp Duty, Fee For Land Registrations Till March End.

The SAD leader alleged that the Mann government planned to “regularise” its “puppet” DGP to continue with political vendetta. The AAP government had appointed 1992 batch officer Gaurav Yadav as the acting DGP about a year back. The opposition criticised it earlier for not recommending a panel of officers to the UPSC for the top police post. According to the bill, the Punjab government shall constitute an empanelment committee to come up with a list of three officers out of the pool of eligible officers, based on various criteria including the length of service, service record and range of experience.

The seven-member empanelment committee will be headed by a retired Chief Justice or a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Its other members include the state's chief secretary, a nominee of the UPSC, the chairman or a nominee of the Punjab Public Service Commission, a nominee of Union Ministry of Home Affairs and a retired DGP who has served as head of Punjab Police. The administrative secretary of Punjab's home department will be the member-convener of the empanelment committee.

"The provisions of this (substituted) section shall prevail notwithstanding anything contained in any judgement, order or decree of any court," says the bill. In the “objects and reasons” of the bill, the Punjab government stated that “police” and “public order” fall in the “exclusive domain of states". "The Constitutional framework envisions a federal structure-- wherein the states are exclusively empowered through its legislature to enact laws concerning public order and police. Punjab Government Is Ready To Assist Karnataka To Overcome Rice Shortage: AAP Leader Prithvi Reddy.

Earlier Tuesday, following a brief debate, the House passed the amendment bill to replace the governor with the chief minister as the chancellor of state-run universities. Apart from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the bill was supported by the two-member Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the lone Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member of the House. The AAP government's move comes amid differences between the Mann government and Governor Banwarilal Purohit on several issues, including some selections the state government made for the post of vice-chancellor.

"If we cannot appoint the vice-chancellor of a university, then it is disrespect to the mandate which people have given us," Mann said in the House. Mann claimed that contrary to securing the interests of Punjab, the governor was "often seen on the other side". He referred to row over Chandigarh's Panjab University.

Instead of safeguarding the interests of Punjab and Punjabis, the governor had been taking a stance in favour of Haryana to allow its entry into the senate of the university, Mann charged. "He takes my helicopter, a government helicopter, and then abuses me... I don't think so much interference is needed. His duty is to administer the oath... It does not mean he will create trouble for every small thing," Mann said.