THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Switching to combative mode, the state government on Wednesday decided to bring in an Ordinance stripping the governor off the chancellorship of universities. Arif Mohammed Khan retorted that he will refer the Ordinance to the President.
“The government’s wish cannot be the law of the land. I am not a CPM leader who can be sidelined,” the governor told the media. Khan said the chief minister should explain to him the reason for the promulgation of the Ordinance. Interestingly, Khan had himself favoured such a decree a few months back.
After a meeting of the state cabinet earlier in the day, a note from the chief minister’s office said the government will recommend to the governor to promulgate an Ordinance to appoint “renowned academic experts” to the chancellor’s post in various universities. The Acts governing 14 state universities will be amended to remove the provision stipulating that the governor be the chancellor.
The cabinet cited the Justice (Retd) M M Punchhi Commission report on Centre-state relations, which recommended that governors should be freed from the chancellor’s role. The previous Oommen Chandy government had taken a similar stance in its response to the Commission’s recommendations. States such as West Bengal and Tamil Nadu had enacted legislations to divest the governor of the chancellor’s powers. Maharashtra too had come up with such a bill but it was rolled back after a change of government in the state.
The cabinet also justified the Ordinance saying that experts in the sector need to be at the helm of university administration to achieve the state’s objective of raising the standards of its higher educatoinal institutions to international standards.
Govt trying to wreck higher education: Oppn
Higher Education Minister R Bindu said the decision was part of the government’s ongoing reforms in the sector. Recently, a commission appointed by the government had recommended that the chancellor must be “a person of eminence who has distinguished herself/himself in public life through a lifetime of excellence and leadership.”
Earlier, during the height of the confrontation with the government over V-C appointments, Khan had said that he was ready to sign an Ordinance that would remove him from the chancellor’s post and asked the chief minister to take up the role. However, through a series of letters, the government persuaded him to continue in the post. The government’s change of stance came after the confrontation with Khan intensified in the recent months.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties have decried the move to bring in the Ordinance. Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan said the removal of the governor as chancellor would pave the way for AKG Centre to decide whom to be appointed as V-C.
“The government is trying to wreck the state’s higher education sector by attempting to replicate the CPM’s model in West Bengal where academics with Communist background were appointed vice-chancellors,” he said.
State Congress president K Sudhakaran said the Congress will fiercely resist moves to divest the governor of the chancellor’s role. BJP state president K Surendran said the state government’s move was aimed at facilitating nepotistic appointments in higher education institutions.
STICKY WICKET
Experts say the government will be on a sticky wicket if the governor refers the Ordinance to the President. The decree naturally gets lapsed after a month if it’s with the governor, and the assembly can bring in a legislation. But if it’s referred to the President, the state will not be able to bring in a Bill till she takes a call on the Ordinance.