Team Blitz India
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan had said he was not a “rubber stamp” or a “yes man” who would give his assent to Bills passed by the Assembly without applying his mind.
He said that a Bill or an ordinance meant for the welfare of the people of Kerala will not stay on his desk for even an hour. “I will dispose of it immediately. But where they (Government) use the power of law to destroy the institutions, universities and their autonomy and go against the letter and spirit of the Constitution, they cannot expect me to be their yes man. I am not a rubber stamp. I am not,” he told reporters.
Regarding the seven bills he reserved for presidential assent, Khan said he had waited for nearly two years for the ministers to come and explain the contents of those legislations.
“The ministers came but could not explain,” he said. Khan further said that since the Government decided to go to the Supreme Court, instead of giving the explanations sought by him, he referred the seven Bills to the President.
He further justified his action by claiming that of the seven Bills, four were Money Bills as they entailed expenditure and therefore, prior permission of the Governor was required for tabling them in the Assembly. Regarding the remaining three, he said that those Bills were contrary to the UGC norms. Among the Bills reserved for presidential assent are two University Amendment Bills.
The other Bills include the Lok Ayukta Bill, University Bill 2022 (related to divesting the Governor of Chancellorship), the Bill regarding the expansion of the University Search Committee, and the Cooperative (Milma) Bill, according to the Raj Bhavan.
