Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan
– PC : PTI
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, who had recently received a major setback in the wake of orders from the state High Court and the Supreme Court over various matters including those related to universities, on Saturday said he appreciated the orders and welcomed it.
The Supreme Court had yesterday issued notice to Khan and the West Bengal Governor over the inordinate delay in granting assent to various Bills.
The state High Court had recently in multiple orders stayed Khan’s decision to constitute search committees for the appointment of Vice Chancellors to various universities in the state.
Talking to the media here, Khan said anyone aggrieved by an executive order can approach a court anytime as it was a right enshrined in the Constitution.
“I have already said, everybody has a right to feel aggrieved against any executive action and if you feel aggrieved, the constitution provides the remedy. You can always go to the court. That should be welcomed and appreciated. What is not acceptable is that you indulge in street violence.
“If somebody goes challenging the executive action and the court stays it, that means they were exercising their constitutional rights which we must respect,” Khan said.
He said let the matters be scrutinised by the court.
“I am trying to have regular Vice Chancellors for the universities. There are people who are obstructing that process and don’t want the universities to have regular VCs. As long as they use the legal option, there is no problem,” Khan said.
Let the court take a decision, he added.
The High Court had on Friday stayed the formation of search committees for the Kerala Agricultural University and the Sree Narayana Guru Open University.
The court had earlier stayed the order of Khan forming search committees for Kerala University, Mahatma Gandhi University, Malayalam University and the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies.
Khan had in June constituted search committees for the selection of vice-chancellors for six universities in the state and said that he was doing his duty but there was a willful omission on part of the university authorities despite reminders from his office.
The government had moved against his action.
According to separate notifications for the six universities, the Governor took the decision using his power as the chancellor conferred by the provisions of the University Act, and in compliance with the judgement of the Kerala High Court dated December 8, 2022.
The committees were directed to make their recommendations within a period of three months from the date of the notification.
The Governor’s move came amidst an ongoing tussle between the Raj Bhavan and the Left government in Kerala over various matters related to the administration of universities in the state.
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