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Kerala to replace Governor as varsity chancellor amid clash with Arif Mohammad Khan
The ordinance to replace Governor as university chancellor will have to be signed by the Governor. The ordinance will be taken up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting today.
Amid the ongoing clash between the government and the governor, the Kerala government on Wednesday said it will pass an ordinance through which the Governor will no longer serve as the chancellor of state universities. Instead, an academic will become the chancellor. The decision to issue the ordinance was taken in a cabinet meeting, a source in the Chief Minister's Office said. Kerala higher education minister R Bindu has confirmed the move. Also Read | Collapse of constitutional machinery in Kerala: Governor Arif Mohammad Khan
However, the ordinance will have to be signed by Governor Arif Mohammad Khan with whom the government is at loggerheads over many issues, including the functioning of the varsities. Minister R Bindu said she hopes that the Governor would sign the ordinance, once the government brings it, according to his constitutional duties.
According to reports, the ordinance will be taken up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting today.
The recent flashpoint between Arif Mohammad Khan and the government is over the functioning of the universities as the Governor sought the resignation of the vice-chancellors of nine state universities. The Governor demanded the resignation of the VCs after theSupreme Court's verdict that the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University in Thiruvananthapuram was “illegal".
The governor sent notices to these vice chancellors asking them why their appointments should not be declared void ab initio in view of the Supreme Court verdict regarding the VC of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University. The vice-chancellors moved the court against the notice. The Kerala high court on Tuesday restrained the Governor from passing any order on the showcase notice until the court decides on the writ petitions filed by the VCs challenging the notice.
