NEW DELHI: The Governor of state is duty bound to exercise his power of summoning the House of state legislature on the aid and advise of the council of ministers and this is not a “constitutional power” where he can exercise his own discretion, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday.
It made the observation while hearing a plea by the Punjab government against Governor Banwarilal Purohit’s decision to summon the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for its Budget session after he obtained legal advice on the same.
On being informed that the Punjab Governor had on Tuesday issued an order for summoning the House on Friday at 10am, a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha disposed of the plea as infructuous, but said that it was inconceivable that the governor could delay summoning of the Budget session of the assembly.
“In view of the constitutional provisions, there can be no manner of doubt that the authority which is entrusted to the governor to summon the House of each house of legislature of the state is to be exercised on the aid and advise of the council of ministers. This is not the constitutional power in which the governor is invited to exercise his own discretion. There was no occasion to seek legal advice on whether or not the Budget session of the assembly should be convened and the governor was bound by the aid and advice of council of ministers,” the SC said.
“In the present case, the governor was not summoning the house for the first time for election but was advised by the council of ministers to convene the Budget session at the behest of the government that has been duly elected in the general election,” the court observed. The court said the governor has the right to seek information from the CM on matters related to the administration of the state.
Addressing other issues, the SC said since the governor had sought information from the CM about the basis on which school principals were selected for being sent to Singapore for training, and the appointment of the chairperson of Punjab Information and Communication Technology Corporation Limited, the CM was duty bound to furnish it.