Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit held a press conference regarding the appointment of VC (Vice Chancellor) of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) on which AAP government is alleging the Governor. The Governor said that when there was need to give extension to the Vice Chancellor, then government had sent file to his office not once but thrice, But when the VC was applied, the file did not come.
This all happened between Punjab government and Governor Banwarilal Purohit over appointment of Dr Satbir Singh Gosal as vice-chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Ludhiana. After governor asked Mann-led government to remove Gosal from the post citing his appointment illegal, the CM has written a letter to Governor justifying the exercise. The matter escalated over a Punjabi letter posted by Mann on his social media handle.
At the same time, a controversy arose over this letter written in Punjabi. The Raj Bhavan has said that the letter they have received from the Chief Minister is in English language and not in Punjabi. The Governor has asked the Chief Minister to clarify that which of the letters received in English and which has gone viral on Internet media in Punjabi is correct? The letter tweeted by the Chief Minister is of only one page and the letter which has been sent officially to the Governor is in English in five pages. There is also a huge difference in the terminology of both.
The Governor said that why does CM Mann speak against me without any reason. He said that ‘I am the chancellor of the university, it is my job to run it. I cannot do Loose Talk like him, I am a Governor. The government cannot interfere in the work of the university. Mann is not above Supreme Court’, said Governor Purohit. The Raj Bhawan further shared rules of UGC with the media and also detailed about the Vice-Chancellor appoinment’s rules and regulations.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann replied to the letter of Governor Banwari Lal Purohit, in which the Governor had canceled the appointment of VC and asked to implement the process of appointment of new VC. The Chief Minister shared this letter written in Punjabi on Twitter. In the letter, Mann, justifying the appointment of VC, advised the Governor not to engage in proxy war and not to interfere in the functioning of the government. He also asked many questions to the Governor.
Earlier to PAU VC appointment the Governor had withdrawn the approval for convening an Assembly session last month and declined to clear the appoint-ment of noted cardiologist Dr Gurpreet Singh Wander as the vice chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot.
