THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A senior government official has pointed technical flaws in the draft bill that aims to strip the governor of the chancellorship of universities in Kerala. The cabinet approved the draft bill on Wednesday.
While examining the bill to remove the governor as the chancellor of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), one of the important arguments raised by agriculture secretary B Ashok was that the preamble of the draft did not mention the circumstances for bringing in the legislation. In a detailed note on the file of the bill, he opined that necessary rectifications be made in it.
Ashok’s note critical of the bill did not go down well with ministers. At the cabinet meeting, some of them said the secretary exceeded his brief. The meeting decided to formally convey the government’s displeasure to the officer.
The draft bill will be tabled in the assembly session beginning December 5. It proposes replacing the governor with subject experts as chancellor. For this, amendments will have to be made in the Acts of 14 universities, including KAU.
The draft bill provides for chancellor’s removal in case of grave allegations against him. In such cases, the action will be based on an investigation conducted by a former judge of the Supreme Court or High Court.
On November 9, the cabinet had cleared an ordinance removing the governor as chancellor. It was sent to Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, but he returned it, terming it “irrelevant” after the government announced convening of the assembly session.
‘Faults’ spotted by Ashok in the draft bill
ASSEMBLY FROM DECEMBER 5 TO 15
The seventh session of the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly will be convened from December 5 to 15. Going by the current schedule, it will not be extended to January 2023, as speculated earlier.