Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann submitted a resolution in the Assembly on Friday calling for the immediate handover of Chandigarh to the state, accusing the Centre of attempting to disturb the administration of the Union Territory and common assets. The one-day special session comes amid a political squabble triggered by Union Home Minister Amit Shah's decision that Chandigarh personnel will be subject to central service norms.
Mann asked the Centre to respect the principles of federalism inherent in the Constitution by avoiding taking any steps that would disrupt the balance of Chandigarh's administration and that of other common assets when he introduced the motion in the House. The Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 reorganised the state of Punjab into the state of Haryana, the Union Territory of Chandigarh, and other areas of Punjab were allocated to the then Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh, according to the resolution.
"Since then, a balance has been maintained in the administration of shared assets, such as the Bhakra Beas Management Board, by allocating management positions to nominees from the states of Punjab and Haryana in proportion. The central government has attempted to disturb this balance with a number of recent acts "It was stated.
The central government has advertised BBMB member positions to officials from all states and the federal government, whereas these positions have typically been filled by Punjab and Haryana officers. According to the resolution, the Chandigarh government has always been run by personnel from Punjab and Haryana in a 60:40 split. "However, the central government has recently appointed personnel from outside Chandigarh and established central civil service standards for Chandigarh administration employees, which is absolutely contrary to previous understanding."
"Punjab's capital, Chandigarh, was established. When a state has been partitioned in the past, the capital has always remained with the parent state. As a result, Punjab has been pressing for the total transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab "the state of resolution Mann said that this House has voted a number of resolutions in the past encouraging the central government to relocate Chandigarh to Punjab. "This House once again proposes to the state administration to raise the subject with the Central government to promptly move Chandigarh to Punjab in order to maintain harmony and take the views of the people into account," it said.