Left govt to introduce bill in Kerala Assembly to restrict chancellor's powers

Thiruvananthapuram: The Left government will introduce a bill in the Assembly on Wednesday that would limit the Governor's ability to designate vice-chancellors, opening up a new front in the conflict with him.

In an effort to limit the governor's authority as chancellor of the state's universities, the government has introduced the University Laws (Amendment) Bill-2022.

The Left leadership made the political choice to engage the Governor in an open confrontation to make it clear that they are not in the mood to back down.

The measure suggests increasing the number of members on the search committee that selects vice chancellors for various universities from three to five. And the two newly provided members are those the government nominates, thereby making the government-nominees the majority of the panel.

Earlier, search committees were made up of nominees from the university senate, the University Grants Commission (UGC), and the governor. And the panel could nominate one name, or the members could nominate separately, in which case the Governor would befree to choose the UGC nominee, possibly against the state government's wishes.

The State Higher Education Council and State Government will also be able to nominate to the enlarged committee. In the newly introduced provision, the names nominated by the majority of members will be the only ones to reach the Governor, which will put a stop to his discretion in the selection process.

The Vice-Chancellor can only be chosen by the Governor from this list.

Vice-chancellors' retirement age will be increased from 60 to 65 under the measure.

Once the measure is approved by the assembly, it is anticipated that the contentious Gopinath Ravindran's reappointment as vice chancellor of Kannur University problem will also be regularised.

The new law was originally scheduled to be presented by the administration on Friday. However, on Monday, the Assembly's business advisory committee opted to cut short the session.

The house will thus not meet on August 25 and 26, as well as September 2. It was therefore decided to introduce the bill on Wednesday.

The Governor, with whom the government has been at loggerheads over several issues over a long period of time, had rejected the request to re-promulgate 11 ordinances passed by the cabinet.