Thaawarchand Gehlot.
Credit: DH Photo/ S K Dinesh
Bengaluru: Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has rejected an ordinance on increasing the use of Kannada in signboards of businesses. This makes it the first instance of disagreement between the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government and the Raj Bhavan that has come out in the open.
That the Governor has sent back the ordinance was revealed by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday.
On January 5, the Cabinet approved an ordinance to amend the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Act to mandate 60% use of the state’s language in signage. Currently, the law requires the use of Kannada in the “upper-half portion” of boards displaying the names of businesses.
“We made a law and approved an ordinance. The Governor could have given his assent. Instead, he has sent it back saying it should be passed in the Assembly,” Shivakumar said, without elaborating.
The Budget session is scheduled to start next month with Gehlot addressing both houses of legislature on February 12. It is said that the Governor may have sent back the ordinance in view of the legislature session being around the corner.
The Siddaramaiah administration had decided to take the ordinance route in the wake of violent protests by pro-Kannada outfits that targeted businesses in Bengaluru for not giving prominence to the state language.
Shivakumar’s statement came a day after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah met Gehlot at the Raj Bhavan. Sources said, Siddaramaiah urged the Governor to clear bills passed in the Belagavi session of the legislature in December.
As a result, Gehlot on Monday signed off on three bills, which the government notified on Tuesday. This included a law to do away with compulsory rural service for medical graduates. Of the 17 bills passed in the Belagavi session, the Governor has assented to five.
The decision to scrap the National Education Policy (NEP) in Karnataka could become a bone of contention between the government and the Raj Bhavan. Last week, the People’s Forum for Karnataka Education met Gehlot with a petition signed by 10 lakh stakeholders — students, teachers and so on — seeking his intervention to ensure the continuation of NEP.
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