IT HAS BEEN OVER TEN DAYS SINCE SPEAKER ADJOURNED SINE-DIE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ON 22 MAR 2023, QUESTION RAISED BY HEMANT KUMAR ADVOCATE, EARLIER THIS YEAR, PREVIOUS PROROGATION OF WAS DONE AFTER STRAIGHT FOUR MONTHS OF ADJOURNMENT
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It has been over ten days since current 16th Punjab Legislative Assembly was adjourned sine-die on 22 March 2023 by the Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan pursuant to conclusion of Budget (fourth) Session which commenced with effect from 3 March 2022. But till date it is yet to be officially prorogued by the Governor for reasons best known to the ruling elite.
Meanwhile, Hemant Kumar, an Advocate at Punjab & Haryana High Court told that however on 22 March 2023 itself, a letter communication was sent by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Secretariat to Principal Secretary to Governor of Punjab, State Chief Secretary and all Administrative Secretaries of State Government, Secretary, Election Commission of India, Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs etc. informing them of Punjab Vidhan Sabha being adjourned sine die on 22 March 2023.
Amidst all this, it remains to be seen if in coming days, the State Government would write to the Governor recommending prorogation of the State Assembly or else the House would be allowed to be kept in adjourned i.e. sine-die mode as is the position currently so that the House can be summoned whenever the State Government would desire in coming months which would merely require issuance of a communication by the Assembly Speaker to all MLAs and without the need of the State Governor issuing a fresh summoning Notification.
This question arises because in February this year when the State Government wrote to Governor for summoning the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for Budget Session, the latter instead of giving his assent under Article 174(1) of Constitution of India rather asked that the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should firstly respond to his letter wherein he raised queries and ought information on certain issues from the Chief Minister under Article 167 (b) of Constitution of India.(SUBHEAD)
The Chief Minister remained defiant and did not respond. The stand-off continued and thereafter the matter reached the Supreme Court which on 28 Feb 2023 reprimanded both the Chief Minister and the Governor for creating such an unfortunate situation. Thus with the intervention of Apex Court, the above deadlock got resolved.
The Advocate also told earlier this year on 3 Feb 2023 i.e. straight four months after the third Session of the current Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) was adjourned sine die by the Speaker on 3 Oct 2022, an Order was issued signed by the Governor of Punjab Banwarilal Purohit proroguing the Punjab Legislative Assembly by exercising the powers conferred upon him by virtue of Sub-Clause (a) of Clause (2) of Article 174 of Constitution of India.
Interestingly it was Hemant himself who last year pointed out a grave error by writing to the State Governor, Assembly Speaker, Chief Minister, Chief Secretary etc. since earlier Prorogation Order(s) as signed by the Governor use to mention that the concerned Session of Punjab Legislative Assembly has been prorogued by the Governor and not the Assembly which actually ought to be prorogued ( and not the Session) in terms of Article 174(2)(a) of Constitution of India and thus previously issued Prorogation Orders use to be incorrect. However the 3 Feb 2023 Prorogation Order was notified correctly with usage of the words Propagation of Punjab Vidhan Sabha.
The Advocate explained that prorogation means formal discontinuance of sittings of the House by the State Governor by issuing an Order under Article 174 (2)(a) of Constitution of India that is different from adjourning the House sine-dine, which however is ordered by the Speaker at the conclusion of all the Sittings of the House.
Although the House is summoned and prorogued by the Governor under Article 174(1) and Article 174(2)(a) of Constitution of India respectively, in reality such summoning and prorogation is actually decided by the ruling executive ( read the leader of the House i.e. the Chief Minister post approval by Cabinet/Council of Ministers) and thereafter a recommendation is made to the State Governor for issuing the formal Order.
Hemant further said that even when both Houses of Parliament viz. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are adjourned sine-dine by the Speaker and Chairperson of the House respectively, thereafter the President of India in exercise of the powers conferred upon him under Article 85(2)(a) of Constitution of India prorogues the both Houses viz. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and not the Session(s) of both Houses. Similar is the situation in all other States in the country including the neighbouring State of Haryana.
