THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government may shelve the controversial university amendment for the time being so as not to further provoke governor Arif Mohammad Khan. Earlier, the governor got offended when the cabinet gave approval to a draft bill in its last meeting to curtail the powers of the governor by increasing the number of members of the search committee for the appointment of university vice-chancellors.

The governor, who geared up for a confrontation with the government by freezing the appointment process of Priya Varghese, has directed the Raj Bhavan not to take further action against the Kannur University immediately. The decision to issue show-cause notices to the Vice-Chancellor, Syndicate members, Interview Committee members and Priya Varghese, ahead of the cancellation of appointments, has been temporarily put on hold. The governor has directed that further action can be taken after his return from Delhi on August 24.

The assembly, which will convene on August 22, will consider the bills from the second day of the session. Although three bills each will be considered over two days, the amendment bill that irked the governor will not be considered. The Lokayukta amendment has been included as the first bill on the 24th. If the assembly session is skipped on that day, the order will change. CPI has demanded to skip the assembly session on August 24 and 25 as it is busy with its party conference. The assembly may not meet on Friday for just one day. This will avoid the situation of confrontation between the governor and the government. The final decision will be taken in the advisory committee meeting on August 22.