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'Give me one instance… I shall resign': Kerala governor amid Raj Bhavan protest
Arif Mohammad Khan, who is in New Delhi, was responding to the media's queries as even as the Left parties on Tuesday led a massive protest march to Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram over his alleged interference in the higher education sector of Kerala.
Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Tuesday denied allegations of interfering in the business of the state government and claimed that he can provide “1001 examples” where the LDF government interfered in the functioning of universities every day.
Khan, who is in New Delhi, was responding to the media's queries as even as the Left parties on Tuesday led a massive protest march to Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram over his alleged interference in the higher education sector of Kerala. The governor and the Left-ruled state government have been at loggerheads over the appointment of vice-chancellors to various universities.
“The job to run universities is with the chancellor. To run the government is with the elected government. Give me one instance where I tried to interfere in the business of the government, I shall resign that very moment. I can give you 1001 examples where they interfered in the functioning of universities daily,” Khan told reporters, news agency ANI reported.
“Why don't you raise the issue that until the last year, Kerala had 13 universities and all appointments are illegal? Is there any other state where 100 per cent of appointments have been done in violation of the law? Universities have become fiefdoms of the party cadre and their relatives,” the governor alleged.
The state cabinet has recently sent an ordinance for the assent of Khan to remove him from the post of chancellor of universities in Kerala.
Khan added that he was not going to deal with these things. “But I can tell you one thing, I think there is enough evidence for you to come to the conclusion that I am not the type of person who can be pressured,” Khan.
Meanwhile, the Kerala high court earlier in the day refused to stop the protest march organised by Left parties to the Raj Bhavan but directed the chief secretary to consider the representation filed by BJP state chief K Surendran against the alleged participation of government employees in the agitation.
A bench comprising chief justice S Manikumar and justice Shaji P Chaly asked the counsel representing the BJP chief how one could identify government employees from a protest march. "Where is the government order asking the employees to take part in the march? How can we identify government employees from the protestors...How can we ask anyone not to hold a protest march?" the court asked.
