The appointment of Arif Mohammed Khan because the Bihar Governor marks the top of his tumultuous tenure within the Kerala Raj Bhavan. Khan, who was appointed by the BJP-ruled Centre because the Kerala Governor in September 2019, had a working feud with the CPI(M)-led state authorities proper from the outset.
Rajendra Arlekar, who was beforehand the Bihar Governor, has now been transferred to the Kerala Raj Bhavan.
In Kerala, the stress between Khan and the Pinarayi Vijayan authorities first flared over the Citizenship Modification Act (CAA). Khan prolonged assist to the CAA enacted in December 2019, saying that “it was his constitutional obligation to defend it”.
At an occasion on the College of Kannur in the identical month in 2019, Khan iterated his assist for the laws. This drew protests from the ruling Left in addition to the principal Opposition Congress.
The Governor was additionally towards the Meeting’s decision that demanded that the Centre revoke the CAA. This irked the Left, which was already campaigning towards the central laws.
Nonetheless, it was Khan’s interventions within the greater training sector, notably in college appointments, that changed into flashpoints between him and the Vijayan authorities.
The Left dispensation projected Khan as an “agent deputed by RSS to saffronise the state’s greater training sector”.
Due to his workplace, the Governor of a state additionally acts because the Chancellor of its universities, who appoints their vice-chancellors after establishing a search committee and recommending a panel of names.
One of many first battlegrounds between Khan and the Vijayan turned out to be the College of Kannur. After his assertion on CAA triggered backlash, Khan blamed then Kannur varsity V-C Dr Gopinath Ravindran and CM Vijayan’s personal secretary Okay Okay Ragesh for being allegedly behind the protests towards him.
Khan alleged that they’d “conspired” and organised the protests and prevented the police from appearing towards the agitators. Khan later stayed the appointment of Priya Varghese, the spouse of Ragesh, as an affiliate professor in Kannur College.
The re-appointment of Ravindran because the Kannur varsity V-C in November 2021 was one other level of discord between the Raj Bhavan and the state authorities.
Across the similar time, Khan had threatened to give up because the Chancellor of universities, suggesting that he was “beneath stress to violate laid-down procedures and norms in appointments in universities”.
The Kannur College row had been one of many causes that prompted the
CPI(M)-led LDF authorities to move three Payments in 2023 with the intention to curtail the powers of the Governor because the Chancellor. These Payments associated to the upper training sector have been among the many eight Payments handed by the state Meeting in 2022 and 2023.
Khan didn’t give his consent to any of the Payments or refer them to the President. In November 2023, the Vijayan authorities moved the Supreme Courtroom towards the Governor, highlighting the Raj Bhavan’s delay in clearing the Payments handed by the Meeting.
The Supreme Courtroom later noticed that the Governors couldn’t “thwart the traditional course of lawmaking”. Following this, Khan gave assent to 1 Invoice and despatched the remaining seven for the Presidential assent.
Earlier, in October 2022, the apex courtroom had held that the appointment of Dr M S Rajasree because the V-C of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological College was “unlawful’’ and “void ab initio” because it flouted the College Grants Fee (UGC) norms.
After this, Khan sought the resignations of VCs of 9 universities within the state. This led to authorized battles involving the Raj Bhavan, state authorities, UGC and aggrieved V-Cs. Khan additionally locked horns with the LDF authorities over the formation of the committees for the choice of V-Cs.
In early 2023, the Left’s protests towards Khan had spilled on to the streets. This was after Khan had nominated members affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS’ scholar wing, to the senates of two universities – the College of Kerala and the College of Calicut.
Khan had alleged that CM Vijayan had despatched goons to bodily harm him. Later, the Union House Ministry prolonged Z-plus safety cowl for the Governor.
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