SAYS, THIS PROJECT WOULD PROVE MILESTONE IN THE DIRECTION OF MODERNIZATION OF POWER INFRASTRUCTURE IN STATE

REITRATES STATE GOVERNMENT’S COMMITMENT TO PROVIDING UNINTERRUPTED POWER SUPPLY TO INDUSTRY

LUDHIANA, JUNE 12 :-

Chandigarh, May 19:- After the assurance of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO on Thursday took the stock of the power situation in wake of Direct Sowing Paddy (DSR).

Chairing a meeting here today, the Cabinet Minister informed that the state has ample power supply available for direct sowing of paddy (DSR) and the farmers need not worry in this regard. He also reviewed the ground realities of power theft and other energy saving methods during peak load season. Urging the people to adopt power saving methods, he instructed the officials to encourage people to inform authorities about anyone found indulging in power theft.

Patting the back of the officials working hard to provide round the clock power to every section of the consumers, Mr. Harbhajan Singh ETO informed that PSPCL has already arranged sufficient power supply from national grid on nominal rates. He particularly mentioned that we have explored all our options and are using them judiciously for uninterrupted power supply to every section, urging all citizens to adopt power saving technology.

Lauding the Chief Minister’s initiative to give Rs. 1500 per acre to farmers adopting DSR, the Minister asked officials to further encourage all farmers to come forward in greater numbers to save water for the state.

Prominent amongst those present during the meeting included Principal Secretary Tejveer singh IAS, Baldev Singh Sran CMD, DPS Grewal Director Distribution, Gopal Sharma, Director Commercial.

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Punjab Public Works and Power & Energy Minister Mr. Harbhajan Singh ETO said that Punjab Government’s core concern area is to ensure quality citizen centric services to every man.

Patting the back of the officials of Punjab Roads and Bridges Development Board (PRBDB), Mohali, Mr. Harbhajan Singh directed the officers and other staff to pursue their duty efficiently in a transparent manner and apprised that our main focus is on citizen centric approach in their working.

The Cabinet Minister was welcomed by Chief Engineer-cum-Joint Secretary, PRBDB, Sh. T. R. Katnoria and staff of PRBDB. It was probably the first time in history of PWD (B&R) that a Cabinet Minister had visited any implementation office of PWD (B&R). All officers and staff of PRBDB were elated to have the Hon’ble Minister among them.

The Cabinet Minister personally visited all the floors of office and met each and every staff. He also conducted meeting with Officers of PRBDB Mohali and interacted with each officer to understand the job responsibilities assigned to them. Sh. T. R. Katnoria, CE apprised him about the PMGSY/World bank Schemes implemented/executed by PRBDB on behalf of PWD (B&R). He also apprised him about the other services of PRBDB viz Enlistment of Contractors in PWD (B&R), Monitoring of Grievance Redressal Mechanism, Road Safety Works and IT Modules Implementation in the Department.

On this occasion Mr. Harbhajan Singh lauded the role played by PRBDB and gave suggestions to improve these services. The visit was attended T R Katnoria, Chief Engineer-cum-Joint Secretary, Sh. Surinder Kumar, Sh. Ajay Kumar, Sh. Jasbir Singh, Sh. R S Seth, Sh. J S Sidhu (All Executive Engineers), Ms. Tanupreet Kaur, Sh. Sandeep Kumar, Sh. Karan Mittal, Sh. Naresh Kumar Sharma, Sh. Vibham Mahajan (All Sub Divisional Engineers), Sh. Santokh Singh (Head Draftsman), Sh. Karamjeet Singh, DDIT, Sh. Deep Chand, Manager Accounts and Sh. Sandeep Sharma, Project Manager (GIS).

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CHANDIGARH 3 April 2022 

ON 16th March he Governor of Punjab, BL Purohit appointed Bhagwant Maan as Chief Minister of Punjab. He was administered Oath of Office and Secrecy by the Governor the same day.

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Three days later, on 19th March   the Governor of Punjab on the advice of CM Mann appointed  Harpal Singh Cheema, Dr. Baljit Kaur, Harbhajan Singh, Dr. Vijay Singla, Lal Chand, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Laljit Singh Bhullar, Bram Shanker and  Harjot Singh Bains (Total 10) as  Cabinet Ministers. All 10 were administered the Oath of Office & Secrecy the same day by the Governor.

On 21st March, the Governor again on the advice of CM Maan allocated respective portfolios as mentioned in State Government Business Allocation Rules, 2007 amongst all newly sworn in Cabinet Ministers including Mann who holds  total 27 portfolios.

Meanwhile, an Advocate at Punjab and Haryana High Court, Hemant Kumar, on March 20 itself wrote to President of India, Prime Minister, Union Home Minister, Governor, CM and Chief Secretary of Punjab objecting to current strength of Mann’s  Council of Ministers that is Eleven, which is one less than the Twelve,  as mandated/prescribed in First Proviso to Article 164 (1A) of Constitution of India wherein it is explicitly mentioned that the number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister in a State shall not be less than twelve.

It is also noteworthy to mention here that the hereinbefore mentioned First Proviso to Article 164 (IA) uses the word “shall” and not “may” hence it is nothing but compulsory/mandatory that the total strength of Council of Ministers in every State (including Punjab) at any given point of time shall (should) not be less than  Twelve.

Also, till date there has been no authoritative judicial pronouncement (read any Reportable Judgment which acts as a binding precedent) by any Constitutional Court in India i.e. either by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India or else any High Court(s)  in India including the jurisdictional Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court on this very issue i.e. if total strength of Council of Ministers in a State in India can be less than 12 at any given point of time.

Further, Hemant asserts that notwithstanding the fact that the recent expansion of Punjab’s Council of Ministers on 19 March  is very first and there can be more such expansion(s) in future as maximum 7 (seven) more Cabinet Ministers/Ministers of State can be appointed  in Punjab’s Council of Ministers in due course which is the upper ceiling/limit in case of State of Punjab since the total number of members of Legislative Assembly of Punjab is 117 and thus maximum number of Ministers in Punjab’s Council of Ministers can be 15% of 117 i.e. 17.55 (which means 17 or if rounded off then 18) as per Article 164 (1A) of Constitution of India.

However, the significant legal (read constitutional) point is that the mandate/prescription of  minimum  number of Ministers in State’s Council of Ministers i.e. 12 as per First Proviso to Article 164 (IA) of Constitution of India is applicable from ab-initio (from the very beginning) of constitution/formation of Council of Ministers and it doesn’t means by any stretch of imagination that the strength of State’s Council of Ministers can be less than 12 initially and later on it can expanded to 12 or more in due course.

Hence, Hemant points out that until and unless the strength of Punjab’s current Council of Ministers is raised from current 11 to 12, it nevertheless lacks legal (read constitutional ) sanctity in terms of First Proviso to Article 164(IA) of Constitution of India.

As a consequence thereof, there would be serious question marks over the decisions taken by such Council of Ministers/Cabinet with less than 12 Ministers including the Chief Minister as in case of Punjab currently. The first and only meeting of Punjab’s new Cabinet till date was held this past Saturday immediately after swearing in ceremony of 10 Cabinet Ministers.

Meanwhile, it has been two weeks but the Advocate is yet to get any sort of response or reply from Punjab Raj Bhawan. However, he got an email (cc copy) from the Office of Principal Secretary to CM a week back on March 21 from which it came to light that the matter has been forwarded to Secretary(PA- Political Affairs) and Superintendent (FUP) in CM Office, Punjab.

On the last day of withdrawing nomination papers for Rajya Sabha Election Punjab 2022, today, no candidate withdrew nominations. Thus, all the five candidates, who had filed nominations for Biennial Election have been declared the winners unopposed.

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Giving further details, Returning Officer-cum-Secretary, Punjab Vidhan Sabha Mr. Surinder Pal said that the biennial election process for the Rajya Sabha Punjab 2022 was being carried out under the supervision of Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Dr. S. Karuna Raju, who had been appointed Observer by the Election Commission of India.

He further divulged that as no candidate withdrew his nomination paper up till the last day of withdrawal till 3:00 PM on March 24, 2022, Sandeep Kumar Pathak and Raghav Chadha (first cycle), Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Mittal and Sanjeev Arora (second cycle) were declared winner unopposed. A report in this regard has been sent to the Election Commission of India, he added.

Chandigarh, March 22:

Punjab Public Works Department and Power Minister Mr. Harbhajan Singh ETO today asserted that the State Government will fulfill all its guarantees given during the campaign for polls under the visionary leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and National Convener of Aam Aadmi Party Mr. Arvind Kejriwal.

While assuming the charge of his office here at Civil Secretariat, Mr. Harbhajan Singh said that the state government will revive the pristine glory of the state and will uplift the downtrodden sections of the society. He said that the government will create congenial atmosphere for investment so that people of the state will get employment opportunities in abundance. Acknowledging the fact that infrastructure needed immediate care, the Cabinet Minister said that historical buildings direly needed maintenance and he will take care of these as priority.

Talking with media persons, Mr. Harbhajan Singh exuded confidence that he will be able to take up the responsibility and will work with an intention to solve people’s problems. He added that the incumbent government will work in the direction to provide employment and eradicating drug addiction from the state of Punjab.

Extending his gratitude towards the party leadership for the post, he also extended the words of thanks the people of Punjab for choosing AAP and giving a clear mandate to the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to govern the state. Notably, Harbhajan Singh, MLA from Jandiala Assembly Constituency has became an Excise and Taxation Officer in 2012 but he took voluntary retirement from the post of ETO in 2017. He won from Jandiala constituency with a margin of almost 25000+ votes defeating Sukhwinder Singh Danny Bandala.

Among others who were present on the occasion included Cabinet Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, Cabinet Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, MLA Kulwant Pandori, MLA Dinesh Chadha, MLA Manjit Singh Bilaspur, Principal Secretary Power Dilip Kumar, Principal Secretary PWD Vikas Partap, Chairman-cum-Managing Direstor PSPCL Baldev Singh Sran and others.

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Candidates filed their nomination papers in the presence of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann

Chandigarh, March 21 2022

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced the names of its candidates for the elections of five Rajya Sabha seats in Punjab. On Monday, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, AAP’s Punjab affairs co-in-charge Raghav Chadha, party’s election strategist in Punjab, Sandeep Pathak, Lovely Professional University (LPU) Chancellor Ashok Kumar Mittal and Ludhiana’s eminent industrialist Sanjeev Arora filed nomination for the Rajya Sabha seats from the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab Legislative Assembly. All the candidates filed their nomination papers in the presence of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

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The Aam Aadmi Party had registered a landslide victory in Punjab Assembly elections 2022 and 92 candidates of the party reached the legislative assembly. Looking at the number of seats and mathematical figures, all the five candidates of AAP are sure to be elected unopposed. Raghav Chadha, who is the party’s Punjab affairs co-in-charge and a great confidant of AAP’s national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Raghav Chadha studied at the world-renowned London School of Economics, and was appointed as the youngest spokesperson of the party. In the 2020 Delhi Assembly Elections, Raghav Chadha won from Rajinder Nagar Assembly Constituency and became MLA.  Chadha is also the vice-chairman of the Delhi Jal Board and one of the architects of the party’s resounding victory in Punjab.

Sandeep Pathak was in the role of Chanakya of the party in the Punjab assembly elections.  Sandeep Pathak did his Ph.D at Cambridge University of UK and has been Associate Professor in IIT Delhi. He joined the party to contribute to Arvind Kejriwal’s dream of a corruption-free India. He has been working and strengthening the party by staying behind the scenes for many years now. Pathak prepared a strong organization of the party in the whole of Punjab and prepared a strategy for the massive victory of the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab assembly elections. By conducting scientifically accurate surveys and selecting good candidates, Pathak remained behind the scenes and prepared the script of the party’s historic victory in Punjab.

Famous cricketer and India’s most successful off-spin bowler Harbhajan Singh also filed nomination for Rajya Sabha by joining the Aam Aadmi Party. Harbhajan Singh played for the Indian cricket team from 1998 to 2016 and made a special place in the hearts of the people of the country with his amazing and unique bowling. Singh also captained Mumbai Indians and Kings Xl Punjab in IPL. For his wonderful game, Harbhajan Singh has been awarded with the country’s prestigious sports honor Arjuna Award and Padma Shri.

Ashok Kumar Mittal, founder and chancellor of Lovely Professional University, has also filed his nomination as a candidate of Aam Aadmi Party. Mittal is known for his commendable work and social service in the field of higher education.  Born in a normal family, Ashok Mittal achieved success on the basis of his hard work and ability and achieved so much. To contribute to the education sector in Punjab, he established the country’s famous university, Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar. LPU is one of the largest universities in India.  Students from more than 50 countries come here for higher education.

Sanjeev Arora, an eminent businessman of Ludhiana, will also go to Rajya Sabha from Punjab quota on behalf of Aam Aadmi Party.  Sanjeev Arora runs the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust. He founded it after his parents lost their lives due to cancer and treated more than 160 cancer patients free of cost. Sanjeev Arora is on the Governing Board of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana and is also a member of Apex Council of Punjab Cricket Association.