Kerala Assembly Introduce Bill to Remove Governor From Chancellor Post

The bill proposed by the Kerala government calls for the appointment of eminent educationists of the state instead of governors as Chancellor of universities.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Left government in Kerala has gone a step further to remove the governor from the post of chancellors of the state's universities. State Law Minister P Rajeev introduced the controversial University Law (Amendment) Bill in the Assembly. As soon as the bill was introduced, the opposition started protesting against it. Opposition leader VD Satishan alleged that the bill was against UGC guidelines and Supreme Court orders.

The bill proposed by the Kerala government calls for the appointment of eminent educationists of the state instead of governors as Chancellor of universities. A couple of months ago, Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and the Pinarayi Vijayan government of the state broke out over the appointment of vice-chancellors in nine universities of the state. Complaints and counter-complaints from both sides intensified the political conflict. The state government has accused Governor Khan of interfering in administrative work. Not only the appointment of the vice-chancellor of the university, but also on various other issues, the conflict between the two sides continues. In this situation, the conflict is expected to increase naturally with the introduction of the new bill.

The Congress-led UDF, the main opposition alliance in the state, said it was not against a democratically elected government if it wanted to remove the governor from the post of university chancellor. But, they have objections to the alternative provision in the proposed bill. The new bill will disrupt the autonomous character of world sciences. Opponents claim that the standard of universities will also drop like 'government offices'.

The new bill states that the government will appoint eminent academicians to the posts of Acharyas of the sciences. Moreover, eminent persons from various fields – agriculture and animal science, technology, medicine, social science, literature, art, culture, law or humanities – can be appointed as Acharyas. The term of office of the Acharyas shall be five years from the date of assumption of office.