Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit refused to give consent to the appointment of Dr. Gurpreet Wander as the new Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of the Faridkot-based Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) and asked the AAP government to send a list of three names for the position.
The Governor, who is the Chancellor of the University, pointed out that recommending only one name by the government was in violation of the rules. The Chief Minister had on September 30 announced the appointment of Dr. Wander as the next Vice-Chancellor of BFUHS. However, the Governor turning down the recommendation has left the government red-faced.
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In his reaction, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said there were no differences between the State government and Governor. He said that if the Governor has desired, the State government will send the panel of three names for appointment of Vice-Chancellor to him, adding that otherwise, the usual tradition had been that the Governor gives consent to the name proposed by the government.
The tiff between the Governor and the AAP government has been on public display for a while now. Recently, Mr. Purohit slammed the Chief Minister over his absence from civic reception for President Droupadi Murmu, to which Cabinet Minister Aman Arora reacted sharply, terming the remark as ‘uncalled for’ and urged the Governor “to restrain from making such statements in the future”.
Last month, the Governor and the AAP government were involved in a face-off over holding a special session of the State Assembly for the tabling of ‘confidence motion’, following the AAP’s allegation that attempts were being made to topple its government in Punjab by offering bribes to its legislators by agents of the BJP.
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The post of Vice-Chancellor at BFUHS had fallen vacant in July after Raj Bahadur resigned following the alleged ‘humiliating conduct’ of Punjab Health Minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra during his visit to the hospital. The Minister faced severe criticism across the political spectrum and medical fraternity in Punjab.
