AS PER PARLIAMENTARY CONVENTIONS AND PRACTICES, THE HOUSE IS USUALLY PROROGUED SOON AFTER IT IS ADJOURNED SINE DIE -- ADVOCATE  

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With the Governor of Punjab Banwarilal Purohit, on the advice of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann appointing two new Cabinet Ministers viz. Balkar Singh and Gurmeet Singh Khudian coupled with acceptance of resignation of erstwhile Cabinet Minister Inderbir Singh Nijjar, the fresh strength of Mann's Cabinet has now been raised to 16 against a sanctioned strength of 18 including CM Mann himself. Hence two more Ministers can be appointed therein in due course. 

Meanwhile, Hemant Kumar, an Advocate at Punjab & Haryana High Court asserted that during the past over 14 months tenure of Bhagwant Mann Govt which assumed reins of power on 16 March 2022 with only CM Mann taking Oath as CM on that day, three days later on 19 March 2022 there was first ever expansion of Mann's Cabinet when total 10 Ministers were administered Oath of Office & Secrecy by the Governor. 

Since the very first Session of the current 16th Punjab Vidhan Sabha was already summoned earlier from 17 March 2022, hence during the first Cabinet expansion of Mann Govt i.e. on 19 March, the Punjab Assembly (House) was in Session. It was firstly adjourned sine die on 22 March 2022 by the then newly elected Speaker, Kultar Singh Sandhwan. The House was reconvened on 1 April 2022 after which it was again adjourned sine die by the Speaker. Thereafter, the Prorogation Order of the House was signed by the Governor under Article 174(2)(a) on 16 April 2022 which was notified in the Punjab Government Gazette on 18 April 2022. 

Further, the Second (Budget) Session of the current 16th Punjab Vidhan Sabha was convened with effect from 24 June 2022. Meanwhile, a month back, on 24 May 2022, Vijay Singla, Cabinet Minister was dropped/sacked from the Mann's Cabinet. After the conclusion of the Second (Budget) Session, the House was adjourned sine die by the Speaker on 30 June 2022. Less than a week later, on 5 July 2022, five new Ministers were inducted in Mann's Cabinet. However, as the Assembly was then not prorogued, hence technically speaking, the House was in Session when such five Ministers took Oath of Office & Secrecy. The House was finally prorogued on July 14, 2022 with the publication of the Prorogation Order issued by Punjab Governor in this regard. 

Meanwhile, the third Session Punjab Assembly was summoned with effect from 27 Sep 2022. Although it was adjourned sine die by the Speaker on 3 Oct 2022 but it got finally prorogued straight four months later on 3 Feb 2023 after issuance of Prorogation Order by Punjab Governor. However, during the interregnum period, in Jan, 2023, one Cabinet Minister Fauja Singh resigned from Mann's Cabinet and Balbir Singh took Oath as new Cabinet Minister. Hence, the Punjab House was then also technically in Session since it was not prorogued.

Now, since past over two months i.e. from 22 March 2023 i.e. ever since this year's Punjab Budget Session was adjourned sine die by the Speaker, the House has not been prorogued from the Governor by the Bhagwant Mann dispensation.

Hence today when Balkar Singh and Gurmeet Singh Khudian took Oath and Inderbir Nijjar resigned, the House is also technically in Session as it has not been prorogued.

The Advocate explained that prorogation means formal discontinuance of sittings of the House by the State Governor by issuing an Order under Article 174 (2)(a) of Constitution of India that is different from adjourning the House sine-dine, which however is ordered by the Speaker at the conclusion of all the Sittings of the House.

Hemant said that although there is nothing of the sort of constitutional embargo or other prohibition in Chief Minister expanding his Council of Ministers (a.k.a. Cabinet ) whilst the State Assembly is in Session i.e. not Prorogued however as per Parliamentary Conventions, such expansions are not done usually when House is in Session. As far as announcement of key Policy decisions, if the House is in Session, the ruling executive (Government) has to announce such Policy Statement(s) in the House and not outside. Moreover, if any Ordinance is to be promulgated from the Governor, the House would have to firstly get prorogued.

Hemant also told that although the House is summoned and prorogued by the Governor under Article 174(1) and Article 174(2)(a) of Constitution of India respectively, in reality such summoning and prorogation is actually decided by the ruling executive ( read the leader of the House i.e. the Chief Minister post approval by Cabinet/Council of Ministers) and thereafter a recommendation is made to the State Governor for issuing the formal Order.

The possible reason for Bhagwant Mann's Govt not getting the House prorogued from the Governor might be that since on two occasions, the Governor didn't give his immediate consent to Mann's Govt recommendation on convening the Session of the State Assembly and the matter also reached the Supreme Court earlier this year, hence the State Govt. wants to play safe by keeping the Session alive by its non-Prorogation so that the House can be reconvened whenever Govt. desires so merely with the issuance of necessary Order by the Speaker and without the need of Governor to issue Order under Article 174(a) of Constitution of India regarding formal summoning of the House.