KOCHI: A day after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched a tirade against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, the latter shot back on Saturday saying there has been an effort to denigrate and demean the office of the governor.Khan said the state government cannot be given the power to appoint vice-chancellors of universities as it would amount to ‘executive interference’.
“Underqualified and unqualified people, just because they are related to the personal staff of the chief minister, cannot be allowed to be appointed,” Khan said here on Saturday. The governor also said that he would release in three days the letters written to him by the chief minister promising that there won’t be any government interference in the functioning of universities.
“Now, they are proposing that they will appoint a vice-chancellor. This would lead to the erosion of autonomy of the universities and educational institutions. As long as I am here, I will not allow the erosion of the varsities’ autonomy,” he added.He also reiterated the allegation of conspiracy behind the attempt to physically attack him during the Indian History Congress at Kannur three years ago.
“What was the duty of the police? To register a case... who prevented the police from registering a case? Who held the home department? You are trying to denigrate and demean the office of the governor. You have tried every trick in the box to put pressure and frighten me,” he said.
Governor accused the chief minister of not responding to the calls from the governor’s office even after alerting him on various occasions. “The CM does not respond to calls nor reply to the communications from the office. Why is he afraid of meeting me? If he wanted to talk to me through the media, he is welcome,” he said.
Governor has no additional powers, says Kanam
Justifying Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s stand against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan over the university appointment row, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran has said the governor is making statements ignoring his position.
“The governor has no additional powers than those granted by the Constitution but he is pretending as if he has more powers,” he said in Kochi on Saturday. Kanam Rajendran added that the governor does not have the power to make invalid the laws passed by the assembly. “The governor is not the head of the government. As per the Constitution, the chief minister and council of ministers advise the governor and he should act as per that advice. He could not act like a king as