Governor Gulab Chand Kataria has overturned the decision taken by former Governor Banwari Lal Purohit in the matter of giving relief or pardon in the sentence of prisoners. Now the cases of pardon of the convicts will be sent directly to the Governor by the Chief Minister instead of forwarding them through the cabinet. This is expected to soften the relations between the Raj Bhavan and the government.
The decision taken by former Governor Banwari Lal Purohit in the matter of giving relief or pardon in the sentence of prisoners lodged in jail has been overturned by the current Governor Gulab Chand Kataria. The Governor has asked the Punjab government to send the cases of pardon of the convicts directly by the Chief Minister instead of forwarding them through the cabinet. Last week, he has sent instructions in this regard to the state government.
About 200 such cases are pending
The special thing is that these files were passed before the state level function to be held on the occasion of Republic Day on 26 January, but due to the busyness of all the ministers including Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in the Delhi Assembly elections, these files could not be passed.
It has been found that about 200 such cases are pending. Departmental sources said that Governor Kataria has approved that the cases of relief in sentence can be sent directly to him without bringing it to the cabinet.
This is a sign of softening between the government and the Raj Bhavan
The abolition of this condition indicates a softening of relations between the Punjab Raj Bhavan and the state government. Earlier, Banwari Lal Purohit had instructed that the file of every case should be sent to him after getting it approved separately from the cabinet, due to which the relations between the Raj Bhavan and the state government had soured. A senior official said that after these instructions, there will be no delay in settling the cases of relief in sentence to prisoners.
