Punjab CM slams Governor for ‘interfering’ in functioning of govt

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday accused state Governor Banwarilal Purohit of regularly ”interfering” in the functioning of his government, two days after he was told to remove the Punjab Agricultural University vice chancellor.Purohit on Tuesday had asked Mann to remove Satbir Singh Gosal from the post, saying he was appointed without following University Grants Commission norms and approval of the Chancellor. In a letter to Purohit, the chief minister on Thursday said Gosal was appointed as per law.He also mentioned how the Governor withdrew the approval for convening an Assembly session last month and declined to clear the appointment of noted cardiologist Dr Gurpreet Singh Wander as the vice chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot. ”For the past a few months, you have been constantly interfering in the functioning of the government, which was elected with a huge mandate. People of Punjab are very upset because of this,” said Mann. The CM also asked Purohit who is asking him to carry out such ”wrong and unconstitutional” works and why he agreed to do this. Mann told the Governor that the agriculture university’s vice-chancellor is appointed according to the Haryana and Punjab Agricultural Universities Act, 1970. ”The VC is appointed by the board of the PAU. There is no role of a chief minister or Governor in it,” wrote the CM as he cited the examples of previous appointments of Baldev Singh Dhillon and M S Kang as vice chancellors of the university. He said no approval of the Governor was sought in appointing any of the previous vice chancellors. ”Therefore, Dr Satbir Singh Gosal has also been appointed as per law, like it used to be done earlier,” said Mann.