Kerala Legislative Assembly passes bill to remove Governor as Chancellor of Universities

The Kerala Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed the University Laws (Amendment) Bill that amends laws relating to the governance of State universities and removes the Governor as the Chancellor of universities in the State..As per the Bill that has now been passed, eminent academicians would be appointed as Chancellors instead of the Governor.The Bill will now be placed before Governor Arif Mohammed Khan himself for his assent..This comes amidst a long and open row between Governor Khan and the State government.In October, the Governor in his capacity as the Chancellor had sent letters to the VCs of 9 universities asking them to resign, with less than 24 hours notice. By the time the VCs approached the Court, however, the Governor sent show cause notices instead, asking them to explain why they shouldn't be removed from their posts in light of a recent decision of the Supreme Court setting aside the appointment of the VC of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University.When the VCs approached the High Court again, this time challenging the show cause notices, the Court extended the time granted to the VCs to file their explanations. However, it was made clear that the explanations would not cause any prejudice to their cases before the Court.The main cause of the row with the ruling CPI(M) led Left Democratic Front seemed to be the fact that the Governor has apparently been sitting on some key legislations, especially the University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022. The State government has been open in its criticism of the Governor's actions with several Ministers openly stating that the Governor, instead of withholding his approval indefinitely, should return the Bill for reconsideration.The clash came to a head when the Governor posted a now infamous tweet in which he seemed to be threatening Ministers who have been openly critical of him, with the "withdrawal of pleasure".Khan was alluding to Article 164 of the Constitution, which says the Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the Chief Minister’s advice, and that “the Ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor”.However, many including those from the legal community, were quick to point out that this power is not one that the Governor can exercise unilaterally or for personal reasons and that the Governor is bound by advice of Council of Ministers.