This article 175(2) has not been invoked by the Raj Bhavan in recent memory, according to sources.
The West Bengal government and the Governor today clashed in the most unprecedented manner, with the Governor citing Article 175(2) of the constitution to direct the Assembly Speaker to inform the House why he had held up the State Commission on Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Bill.
This article 175(2) has not been invoked by the Raj Bhavan in recent memory, according to sources.
The Assembly adjourned sine die shortly after 3pm, without Governor Jagdeep Dhankar's letter being place in the House.
"Is this a conspiracy against the governor," Mr Dhankar said at an impromptu press meet at Raj Bhavan around 5 pm. "I will never countenance it. I am not weak. I hold a Constitutional position," he added.
The Governor's letter may have been prompted by protests on the Assembly grounds this morning by Trinamool MLAs who raised slogans against him for delaying the bill that is yet to be introduced in the Assembly for discussion.
The Governor who shared the letter sent to the Speaker has blamed a tardy government for the delay in clearing the bill for discussion.
"The government is working at the pace of a bullock cart," he said.
The Governor said on December 5, he had asked officials for some clarifications. Those clarifications had not reached him yet.
The Governor said the bill was about setting up a commission for SC/ST in the state. He questioned the need for such a state commission when the National SC and ST commissions were already in existence.
This is only the latest in a string of unprecedented face offs between the Governor and the government.
Today's face offs were multi-faceted.
Not only are protests by ruling party MLAs against the Governor unusual, also unusual is the criticism of the Governor by the Trinamool chief whip, the minister for Parliamentary Affairs and the Speaker as well inside the House.
All three slammed the Governor for undermining the authority of the House.
Chandrima Bhattacharya, senior minister in the Mamata Banerjee government, questioned the Governor's right to raise questions about a bill even before it had been placed and discussed in the House. The government is fully empowered to have its own SC/ST commission, she asserted.
That was not all.
Rules were formulated under the two-year-old Universities Act today which, say sources, completely clip the Governor's wings as the chancellor of universities in Bengal. The rules suggest the Governor will no longer have any say in who will be appointed vice chancellors of the universities of which he is chancellor.
All this on a day when the Trinamool MPs protested the Governor's role in the Rajya Sabha today and sought his removal. "We will take this forward," MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy said.