Amid feud, Kerala Assembly Passes Bill to Remove Governor as Chancellor of Universities

Kerala, Dec 13, 2022: The Kerala Assembly witnessed high drama earlier this week as it passed the bill to remove the Governor as the Chancellor of universities in the State and appoint eminent academicians for the top post. The opposition UDF boycotted the House over non-acceptance of its suggestions pertaining to the bill.

The bill, which had undergone scrutiny by a Subject Committee of the House, was passed following hours long discussions during which the Congress-led UDF stated that it was not opposed to the removal of the Governor as Chancellor.
The UDF stated that it wanted retired Supreme Court judges or former Kerala High Court chief justices to be considered for appointment at the helm of universities.

The opposition also said there need not be different chancellors for each of the universities and the selection panel should consist of the Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition (LoP) and the Kerala High Court Chief Justice.

The UDF said one Chancellor for all universities was enough as day-to-day 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. “The number of chancellors can be decided later,” he said.

Rajeeve’s suggestion surrounding 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 universities. “The number of chancellors can be decided later,” he said.

With respect to the stand taken by the government, the opposition said it was boycotting the House proceedings as it was afraid that the state government was attempting to turn universities in Kerala into Communist or Marxist centres by appointing their favourites at the helm of affairs.