Rebutting Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's assertions regarding regularisation of the services of contractual employees, Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Sunday described them as "factually incorrect".
The Governor, in a statement, said the file regarding regularisation of the services of contractual employees was sent back to the office of Chief Minister with six queries which need to be clarified by the state government.
The copy of the queries raised on the said file is released to the media.
"This file was duly received by CMO on December 31, 2021, and the reply to queries is awaited," said the statement.
"I advise the Chief Minister to give reply to the queries raised on the file," said Purohit, adding: "Once the reply comes, the bill will be re-examined at Governor's Secretariat."
The bill regarding regularisation of the services of contractual employees was passed in the Assembly on November 11, 2021.
After a lapse of nearly 20 days, the said file was sent to Punjab Raj Bhawan on December 1, 2021. In December, the Governor was on tour to various districts of the state. The tour ended on December 21 and thereafter on December 23, the Chief Minister came and met him at Punjab Raj Bhawan.
"The file was duly studied and reverted with observation/queries to the CMO on December 31," added the statement.
Blaming Governor Purohit for "deliberate" and "inordinate" delay in clearing the file regarding regularisation of services of contractual employees, Chief Minister Channi on Saturday said categorically that the Governor being the Constitutional head of the state is functioning under the political pressure of the BJP in the wake of the forthcoming Assembly polls in the state.
Addressing the media here, Channi had said the Chief Secretary and even he himself had personally met the Governor to get the file cleared, adding that earlier he thought the Governor might be busy elsewhere, but now "it is crystal clear that he is unnecessarily sitting over the file".
"It is the question of the future of several employees who have been anxiously waiting for a day when their services would be regularised, at par with their peers working in the state government," he added.
Source IANS