Punjab appears to be facing governance crisis. Its two pillars of democracy are virtually on a collision course. The already strained relationship between the executive and the legislature in the State took a direct hit with the Cabinet Ministers walking out of a meeting “unhappy” with the state Chief Secretary’s “behaviour”.
The differences between the netas and babus are nothing new, especially during the current Congress regime. The Congress leaders, including the Ministers and the legislators, have all along been blaming the bureaucracy for wielding more powers in the State.
In fact, the “concern” was raised loud and clear by the MLAs during the Vidhan Sabha budget session pointing that they had faced “ill-treatment” and “misbehavior” by the officers, while claiming that their demands and requests always go “unheard”.
The Congress leaders have all along been claiming that “unbridled powers” to handful of babus are hampering their day-to-day working and deliberately ignoring the party’s interests.
But, the Saturday’s incident has gone a step further, with the Cabinet Ministers taking strong exception to the Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh’s “insulting behaviour”.
As per sources, the Ministers first raised objection when the Chief Secretary started addressing the pre-budget meeting to discuss the changes in the excise policy through video conferencing while all the Ministers, except three, were present at Punjab Bhawan, Chandigarh, for the meeting. The Ministers asked the Chief Secretary to be “physically present” for the meeting.
While Razia Sultana and Bharat Bhushan Ashu were not present for the meeting, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi joined via videoconference.
Later, things turn ugly when the Cabinet Minister Charanjit Singh Channi expressed his concern on revenue generation and made a suggestion for the policy. But, the Chief Secretary’s certain remarks against Channi’s submission were objected to by the Finance Minister Manpreet Badal who stood up and left the meeting, after which other Ministers followed the suit even though Karan Avtar was apologetic and other officers tried to mollify the ‘angered’ Ministers.
Besides the Ministers and the Chief Secretary, the meeting was also attended by the Chief Minister’s Chief Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar and Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary Tejvir Singh, among others.
Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa also made certain observations against the functioning of the Excise Department. Later, he also lashed out at the officers for “not consult me before declaring jails as quarantine centres”.
As per the schedule, the meeting was to be followed by a Cabinet meeting, which was to be presided over by the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. But following the fiasco, the Cabinet meeting was postponed till Monday in which the amendments to the liquor policy will be discussed.
That was not all! Congress MP from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu, and Gidderbaha MLA Amarinder Singh Raja Warring — both young turks — minced no words to react over the tussle.
“This type of contumacious behaviour by the Chief Secretary time and again is unacceptable…He has regularly disregarded our cabinet ministers and their decisions. I request you to kindly remove him from his post immediately,” said Warring, who at earlier times also, had been vocal against babus. Bittu, in a series of tweets, criticized his party Ministers for not being able to handle civil servants, asking them to quit for “incompetent behaviour”.
“During Corona pandemic, the coordination between Ministers and bureaucrats should be strong but Ministers walking out from a Pre-Cabinet Meeting should might as well resign for their incompetent behavior as Many other Capable of handling Work pressure are ready to replace them,” he tweeted.
Capt Amarinder has always been trying to striking a balance within the executive and the legislature by asking them to respect each other. On one hand, the Chief Minister has been telling the bureaucrats to give due respect to the MLAs. On the other, he has been making clear that political interference was totally unwarranted in the functioning of the government.
But, the Chief Minister is maintaining strategic silence over the disconnect between the two vital wings of the government, especially his “blue eyed” officers and his Cabinet colleagues.
Now, the policy will be taken up for discussion in the Cabinet Meeting on Monday.