Kerala Assembly passes bill for removing governor as chancellor of universities

The Kerala Assembly proceedings on Tuesday saw high drama as it passed the bill to replace the Governor as the Chancellor of universities in the State and appoint eminent academicians in the top post while the opposition UDF boycotted the House over nonacceptance of its suggestions regarding the billThe University Laws Amendment Bill is passed Speaker A N Shamseer saidThe bill which had undergone scrutiny by a Subject Committee of the House was passed after hours long discussions during which the Congressled UDF said it was not opposed to the removal of the Governor as ChancellorIt said that it wanted retired Supreme Court judges or former Kerala High Court chief justices to be considered for appointment at the helm of universitiesThe opposition also said there need not be different chancellors for each of the universities and the selection panel should comprise the Chief Minister Leader of Opposition LoP and the Kerala High Court Chief JusticeThe UDF said one Chancellor for all universities was sufficient as daytoday activities would be handled by the respective Vice Chancellors However state Law Minister P Rajeeve said that a judge cannot be a part of the selection panel and the Speaker would be a better option He also said that the government has not decided how many chancellors there would be but laws of each university regarding appointment of Chancellor need to be amendedAlso read University Bill Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan says govt cant act unilaterallyThe number of chancellors can be decided later he saidRajeeves suggestion regarding the selection panel was accepted by the opposition subject to the condition that retired judges are appointed as Chancellor The minister however said that retired judges cannot be the sole option for being appointed at the helm of universitiesIn view of the stand taken by the government the opposition said it was boycotting the House proceedings as it feared that the state government was attempting to turn universities in Kerala into Communist or Marxist centres by appointing their favourites at the helmSatheesan said that just like saffronisation of universities in the state turning them into Communist or Marxist centres was equally unacceptable and the opposition as well as the general public fear that is the intention behind the bill to remove the Governor as Chancellor He said the opposition suggested appointing retired judges as Chancellor to address such apprehensions and also criticism in the future that the appointments were political in natureSince the modifications suggested by us have not been accepted we are boycotting the assembly proceedings he said and the opposition MLAs walked out of the House even as Rajeeve told their action would not be seen in a good light in the futureEarlier in the day the UDF said the financial implication of having 14 Chancellors would turn it into a white elephantLet there be only one Chancellor the LoP said and was supported by IUML leader and MLA P K Kunhalikutty with the latter also saying there is no doubt that the Governor has to be removed as ChancellorWe are not at all in agreement with the recent conduct or actions of the Governor Kunhalikutty said and added that no one can be allowed to behave as a government over the elected administrationVarious other UDF MLAs including Roji M John who formulated the alternative suggestion spoke along similar lines and also alleged the bill was being brought by the ruling front to settle political scores with Governor Arif Mohammed KhanThe UDF contended in the past three years the state government was working closely with Khan and at that time the LDF never felt he was trying to implement the allegedly RSS agenda of saffronisation of universities in KeralaNow differences cropped up between them in the last few months and that is the reason for this bill If your intention is to improve higher education and prevent political interference in universities you should accept the alternative suggested by us the UDF MLAs including P K Basheer K K Rema and Shafi Parambil saidThe bill was introduced in the House amidst the continuing tussle between Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the Pinarayi Vijayan government over various issues including the appointment of ViceChancellors of universitiesThe MLAs of the ruling front including K T Jaleel said while the alternative suggested by the UDF was welcome its fears that the LDF was attempting to turn universities into Communist or Marxist centres were unfoundedJaleel said the LDF always appointed well qualified academicians or personalities at the helm of universities He also questioned the UDF suggestion to have only one Chancellor by asking why cannot there be different chancellorsJaleel said some of the universities came under the higher education department while others came under different departments like agriculture and fisheries and therefore there can be separate chancellorsHe also admitted the bill was being introduced to prevent implementation of the alleged RSS agenda of saffronisation of universities in the stateSince the ruling front did not accept the alternative suggested by the UDF it walked out of the House and the modifications proposed by it in the bill were rejected by the AssemblyAccording to the Bill the government shall appoint an academician of high repute or a person of eminence in any of the fields of science including agriculture and veterinary science technology medicine social science humanities literature art culture law or public administration as the Chancellor of an UniversityWith the passing of the University Laws Amendment Bill and four other pieces of legislation the 7th session of the Kerala Legislative Assembly which began on December 5 concluded after seven days of sitting the Speaker said in the HouseHe also said that a total 17 bills were passed during this sessionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no 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