Chancellor of state-run varsities should be 'elected CM', not 'selected': Mann

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday, 18 July, stressed that chancellor of state-run universities should be an "elected chief minister" rather than "selected", a remark which was referred to the state governor.

Taking a swipe at governor Banwarilal Purohit, Mann said if the governor does not want to give assent to any bill, then he sends it to the president who returns that bill after a couple of months.

His statement came after the president returned a Punjab bill that sought to replace the state governor with the chief minister as the chancellor of state-run universities without her assent.

Mann said he will hold a meeting over the issue of the Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which has been returned by the president without her assent.

The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was for replacing the governor with the chief minister as the chancellor of state-run universities.

Replying to a question on the bill being sent back by the president, Mann said such bills which state that an elected chief minister should be the chancellor were also brought by the governments in West Bengal and Kerala.

"We want that democracy should not be of selected but of elected," he emphasised.

Speaking about the current process for the appointment of vice-chancellor of state-run universities, Mann said, "If we want to appoint the VC of Punjabi university, then we will have to give three names to the governor. He will select one of them of his choice. Then who chooses? Is it elected or selected."

"One should know the culture. What is Punjabi university's culture, what is the culture of Punjab Agricultural University and other universities," he added.

Mann further said, "We had brought that bill (Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023) in Vidhan Sabha. We had brought the SGPC Bill as well and that was also sent there (to the President).

"It means if the governor does not want to pass bills (give his assent), he sends them to the President and then the President returns after four to five months. This is our democracy," he added.

The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and three others bills were passed by the Punjab Assembly in the two-day session in June last year but the governor had called the session "patently illegal".

Later in November 2023, the Supreme Court held that the June 19-20 session was constitutionally valid and had directed the Punjab governor to decide on the bills passed by the legislative assembly session.

However, Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit reserved this bill along with two others -- the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 -- for the President's consideration in accordance with Article 200 of the Constitution of India. These three bills were later sent to the President.

The Punjab Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was returned by the president without assent a few days back.

Governor Purohit and Mann have been at loggerheads over various issues, including the appointment of vice chancellor of Ludhiana-based Punjab Agricultural University.

The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was aimed at ensuring a free-to-air telecast of 'Gurbani' from the Golden Temple in Amritsar while the Punjab Police (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was to pave the way to bring about an independent mechanism for selection and appointment of suitable persons to the director general of police post.

The governor had granted assent to the Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Amendment Bill, 2023, which was aimed to streamline the functioning of the Punjab Educational Tribunal for government-aided private colleges.