Kerala Assembly passes Bill to remove Governor as Chancellor of state’s universities

However, the Congress-led Opposition which backed the Bill, boycotted the Assembly after the government refused to pay heed to its demand that retired judges of the Supreme Court or the high court must be made the chancellor.

The Bill will now be sent to the Raj Bhavan for the governor’s consent before it becomes a law. (PTI Photo)

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Kerala Assembly on Tuesday passed a Bill to remove the Governor as the ex-officio Chancellor of 14 universities in the state. The CPI(M) government introduced the University Laws (Amendments) Bill in the Assembly in the wake of recurring issues with Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on administration and appointments at these universities. The Bill will now be sent to the Raj Bhavan for the governor’s consent before it becomes a law.

However, the Congress-led Opposition, which backed the removal of the governor as chancellor, boycotted the Assembly after the government refused to pay heed to its demand that retired judges of the Supreme Court or the high court must be made the chancellor. The Bill envisages appointing academicians of high repute as the chancellor of universities. The chancellor would be selected by a committee comprising the Chief Minister, the Opposition leader and the Assembly Speaker.

The chancellor would be appointed by the Cabinet for a term of five years with a provision to remove him/her from office by an order in writing on charges of grave misconduct or other sufficient reason. The Opposition pointed out that multiple chancellors for 14 universities, instead of one chancellor, would be a financial burden on the universities as well as the state exchequer. The government approved the Opposition amendment that all 14 universities should have a single person as the chancellor, instead of separate chancellors.

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Opposition leader V D Satheesan said that as per the Bill, the government would be the final authority on deciding the chancellor. “This would lead to a situation of filling Communists in universities as chancellors. The government will be appointing puppets in the post,” he said.

Satheesan said the Opposition was not against removing the governor as chancellor. “But we are opposing the substitute system,” he said.

Opposition deputy leader and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) legislator P K Kunhalikutty said the Opposition agrees that the governor should be removed as the chancellor of all universities. The rule of governor cannot be allowed, he said.

The ruling CPI(M) had managed to win Opposition support for removing the governor as the chancellor of universities as the Left had projected Khan as an “RSS tool” engaged in saffronising higher education in the state.

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