THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: All the eyes and ears of political Kerala were pointed at the Raj Bhavan today. Everyone were anxiously looking forward for the new episode in the on-going conflict between the Governor and Chief Minister. When the time arrived, Governor, Arif Mohammad Khan, began the unusual press meet and showed the visuals and the letter that he had promised to the journalists gathered there.

The first salvo from the Governor was directed against the Chief Minister’s private secretary, KK Ragesh. In a scathing attack he accused KK Ragesh of preventing the police from stopping protesters from attacking the Governor during the Indian History Congress three years back.

The Governor said that KK Ragesh was on the dais with him as he was an MP at the time and was also part of the organizing committee of the History Congress. When protests erupted against the Governor, Ragesh left the dais to stop the police from arresting the protesters.

Arif Mohammad Khan said that Rajesh’s current position as political secretary of the Chief Minster is the reward for stalling the arrest of the protesters by the police. The Governor alleged that police officers told him that they did not arrest the protesters because of Ragesh’s intervention at that time.

After the first round, the Governor continued his attack against KT Jaleel, EP Jayarajan, and Saji Cherian. He revealed that the Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, had come to him personally and handed him letters of recommendations. The Governor said that the CM had come to meet him with the request not to change the current Vice Chancellor. The CM had said that the Vice Chancellor belonged to the CM’s native place and gave the Governor his promise that all legal formalities will be followed.

Arif Mohammad Khan said that the government tried to put him under pressure in the appointment of the Vice Chancellor. For that, a legal advice of the Advocate Genera was sent to the Raj Bhavan by the government. The Governor said that he did not seek any legal advice and added that this was a pressure tactic to force him to accept the government’s decision.

The Governor then showed the letters written by Pinarayi Vijayan dated 13 January and 16 December, in which the CM promises that there will be no interference in the appointment of the Vice Chancellor by the government or by any other agency. He added that he refused to sign the University Bill because the government had backtracked on many assurances given to him earlier.

He reminded about how the Chief Minster told the journalists to get out and asked how these kinds of behaviour be tolerated. The government is not interested in the welfare and progress of the people. It is trying to suppress the dissent against it.

The Governor then clarified that he will not sign the bills to amend University Bill and the Lok Ayuktha Bill. He added that he will not allow anyone else to pass judgement on his case as long as he is the Chancellor of the universities.

Stiffening conflict

The conflict between the Governor and the government is stiffening each passing day as both parties refuse to back down. The stand-off between both reminds of the intense conflict between Mamata Banerjee and former Governor of West Bengal, Jagdeep Dhankar.

With today’s press meet, the Governor has given a severe blow to the government’s intentions to clip the powers of the Governor. The plan was to get the University bill passed that restricts the authority of the Governor in selecting a Vice Chancellor. Moreover, the Governor has warned that he will not sign any bill that is against the Constitution. With this, Arif Mohammad Khan has given a clear indication that he is proposing to fight the government tooth and nail.

The Governor has always maintained that he respects the supreme authority of the Legislative Assembly in making laws for the people. However, he says that he will sign only after close scrutiny of the constitutional validity of the bill, the judgements of the Supreme Court and the intent of the bill. This means that every bill that is send to Raj Bhavan for Governor’s inspection might get held up.

The powers of the Governor includes sending bills passed by the Assembly to the President and also even to hold back the bill without giving any reasons. There is nothing the government can do if such scenarios arise. Even the constitution is silent about this. The government is in a dilemma because of these discretionary powers of the Governor.

Currently, the Governor is refusing to sign three controversial amendment bills introduced by the government. It includes the Lok Ayukta Amendment Bill, which gives powers to the CM, Legislative Assembly and the government to re-examine the judgements of the Lok Ayukta. The Lok Ayukta is headed by retired Chief Justice or Justices and the judgements passed by the body is done only after careful investigation, evidence gathering and the trial.

The other controversial bill is the University Amendment Bill, which stipulates that the Vice Chairman of the Higher Education Council is made the Convener of the search committee to appoint the Vice Chancellor. The third bill is the Co-operative Amendment Bill, intended to control the administration of Milma.

The Governor is clearly against nepotism in the appointments to the Universities and has repeatedly told that he will not allow it at any cost. He adds that he will resist any attempt to destroy the self-administration of the universities and would not allow using Vice Chancellors to appoint those close to the government. He added that he will perform his duties to protect the constitution and democracy with full conviction.

There is a judgement by the Supreme Court that says that all the universities in India is bound to follow the rules set by the UGC. Under the UGC guidelines, anyone who is part of a college or university must not be present in the search committee. Curiously, the University Amendment Bill seeks to bring the Vice Chairman of the Higher Education Council as the convener of the search committee to appoint the Vice Chancellor. This questions the validity of the bill itself.

The Governor do not seem to spare the Vice Chancellor of Kerala University. He said that he did not give the Rs.5 crore Chancellor Award to Kerala University because of the irregularities he found in administering the exams. He complained that these irregularities was kept under wraps in front of the committee he had set up to award the money.

The Governor added that under the IPC it is a serious crime to harm or attack the President or the Governor. Those who are accused can get up to seven years in prison. However, there is no case registered against those who attacked him during the Indian History Congress in Kannur three years back. He also said that people are getting arrested for posts in Facebook and for wearing black dress in public functions. Raj Bhavan had asked for a report about the attack twice.

Concerning the attack, the Vice Chancellor had retorted that he is not a security expert on such things. The Governor said that Irfan Habib, who tried to attack him, did not go to Aligarh University when the Prime Minister was visiting there. That was because Irfan Habib knows who Yogi Adityanath is.

If the government is able to get the University Amendment Bill passed, the government can appoint people of their choice to nine universities in Kerala. This will lead to over politicization of the universities.

The Governor will lose his power to appoint the Vice Chancellor to the universities if the bill is passed and the current search committee structure is changed. The government already has a few unpleasant examples of how Arif Mohammad Khan struck down the names given by search committee for Vice Chancellor position at Kerala University of Health Science.

Today’s unusual press meet of the Governor is sure to fill the political scene of Kerala with more allegations and counter allegations in the coming days.