Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will on Wednesday table a new bill in the Kerala Assembly aimed at curtailing the powers of Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan as Chancellor.
The 10-day special session of the Assembly that got under way here this morning, has been specifically called to float 12 bills, after 11 Ordinances lapsed following Khan's refusal to re-promulgate them earlier this month.
Consequent to Khan refusing to ink the re-promulgation, the CPI-M and Khan have been having a free for all. Slamming the Kannur University Vice-Chancellor Gopinath Ravindran, the Governor had called him a "criminal" acting as a CPI-M cadre.
Khan has been up in arms against the Kannur University Vice Chancellor, after he cleared the appointment of the private secretary of Vijayan, K K Ragesh's wife Priya Varghese to the post of Associate Professor in Malayalam. Last week, the appointment was stayed after allegations of large-scale nepotism surfaced.
He also announced to constitute a special commission to probe all the appointments made in the various universities in the past few years in the wake of allegations that a good number of kith and kin of the CPI-M led Left have secured back door appointments.
Against the backdrop of all the developments, Vijayan on Monday decided to come out with a new Bill which will cull the powers of the Governor, as he is also the Chancellor of all Universities in the state.
Responding to it, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan said while his party will oppose the new Bill, it will maintain a distance from the tiff between the CPI-M and Governor.
Published 22 August 2022, 08:52 IST