Punjab government likely to bring bill to replace governor with CM as chancellor of state universities

CHANDIGARH : The AAP government in Punjab is likely to bring a bill in the state assembly on Tuesday to replace governor with chief minister as the chancellor of all state-run universities, sources said. The move comes amid differences between the Bhagwant Mann dispensation and Governor Banwarilal Purohit on several issues, including some selections the state government made on the post of vice-chancellor. The two-day session of Punjab Assembly began here on Monday.

In October last year, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accused Governor Purohit of regularly interfering in the functioning of his government, days after he was told to remove the Punjab Agricultural University VC Satbir Singh Gosal, saying he was appointed without following University Grants Commission norms and approval of the chancellor. In a letter to Purohit, the chief minister had said Gosal was appointed as per law.

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The same month, Purohit had also refused to approve the AAP government's pick for the vice chancellor's post at Faridkot's Baba Farid University of Health Sciences and asked the state government to send a list of three names for the post. Last year, there had also been a squabble between the governor and the AAP government over holding a session of the Punjab Assembly.

A few days ago too, Governor Purohit had sought information about the agenda of the two-day special session of the state Assembly to be held on June 19-20, though he had not raised any objection to the holding of the special session. A year ago, the West Bengal Assembly had passed a bill to replace the governor with chief minister as the chancellor of all state-run universities.