THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: President of India Droupadi Murmu has withheld assent to the Kerala Co-operative Societies Amendment Bill 2022 [MILMA], sending a blow to the state government’s effort to take control of Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF), known by its brand name Milma.
The bill had provisions which allowed voting rights for the KCMMF administrator during the governing board election. The President decided on the fate of the bill, 20 months after it was referred to Governor Arif Mohammed Khan.
This is the second setback for the government in the fight with the Governor. The latter after sitting on seven bills passed by the assembly for months had referred it for the consideration of the President in November last year.
Of the seven bills, the President gave assent only to Kerala Lokayukta Amendment Bill 2022, which curtailed the powers of the watchdog. However, the President withheld assent to three of the five University Laws Amendment Bills that seek to replace Governor as the Chancellor of state universities.
The state government approached the Supreme Court when the Governor sat on eight bills, in November.
“The holding back of the Bill is impeding the much-needed reform in conferring the basic democratic right of voting to the primary dairy cooperative societies,” said the government in the petition against withholding the Kerala Co-operative Societies Amendment Bill 2022 [MILMA].
Of the eight bills, the Governor gave his assent only to Kerala Public Health Bill and referred the rest to the President, in November.