Karnataka Cabinet okays draft amendment bill to remove governor, appoint CM as chancellor of state university

“The Cabinet has decided to approve the bill that will transfer the powers of the chancellor from the governor to the chief minister. After this amendment, the chief minister will be the chancellor of the university,” H K Patil, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, said.

In September this year, the Karnataka Cabinet had approved an amendment to the Act that gave powers to the governor to appoint a vice-chancellor to the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University, setting off a fresh standoff between the ruling Congress government and Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot.

Explaining the need for the latest amendment, Patil said, “We introduced this bill to speed up administrative and education work. With the chief minister at the helm, decisions can be taken much quickly and efficiently. The enactments for this university are different and that of other state universities falling under Karnataka University Act is different. Therefore, we will take the call accordingly, when issues with other universities come up.”

Meanwhile, the cabinet also approved the Chanakya University Amendment Bill to have a government nominee as a member of the university’s Board of Governors, in line with the provisions of government representation on the board of private universities.