Kerala assembly’s resolution against CAA has no legal validity: Governor

Thiruvananthapuram Kerala Governor Arif Mohamed Khan on Thursday said that the state assembly’s resolution against the citizenship amendment act (CAA) has no legal validity and is unconstitutional.

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Khan’s criticism came a day after Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the assembly decision to question the law passed by Parliament. “Citizenship is a matter of the union list. The state has no right to formulate a law or resolution on the subject. So the resolution is not legally or constitutionally valid,” he said in the state capital on the sidelines of a function.

The Kerala assembly had passed a resolution on Tuesday, urging the Union Government to withdraw the Act immediately. Kerala is the first state to pass such a resolution with both the ruling front and the Opposition backing it.

The Governor said the state government was wasting its time on irrelevant issues. Khan also alleged that the idea of a resolution in the assembly was probably mooted by the Indian History Congress. He said that the history congress had claimed it had made some recommendations to the state government. It must be noted that at the Indian History Congress last week, Khan was heckled for his stance on CAA. He had also complained that historian Irfan Habib pushed his aide-de-camp (ADC).

He said he was not against opposition of the Act, per se. “Everyone has the right to protest. Kerala is the least affected by the Act. The issue of illegal immigrants is a non-issue here. So please don’t waste time on irrelevant issues,” he said.

However, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala rejected the governor’s contention and said the state legislature has every right to pass a resolution and there were many such precedents.

Meanwhile chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan also rejected minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s criticism and said that the state assemblies have their own privileges.