President approves Kerala Lok Ayukta Bill

Thiruvananthapuram: President Droupadi Murmu has withheld assent to the three University laws bills referred to her by Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, but approved the Kerala Lok Ayukta Bill passed by the state assembly.

The Raj Bhavan in a statement on Thursday said that the President has withheld assent to the Kerala University Laws (Amendment No.2) Bill 2022, which aims to replace the Governor from the position of Chancellor of Universities. Besides that, the University Law Amendment Bill, 2022 that aims to increase the members in the Search Committee for the appointment of the Vice Chancellor and the University Law Amendment Bill, 2021 which deals with the Appellate Tribunal issue and other amendments to Technological University, were also denied Presidential assent, it said.

The statement further said that of the seven bills referred to the President by the Governor, “assent has been accorded to only one Bill, namely, the Kerala Lok Ayukta Amendment Bill, 2022”. The Kerala Assembly had on August 30, 2022 passed the Lok Ayukta (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to make the executive the appellate authority over recommendations and reports by the anti-corruption watchdog. Khan had in November last year reserved seven bills, including the controversial University Amendment Bills and the Kerala Lok Ayukta Bill, for presidential assent.

The move came in the wake of the Kerala government moving the Supreme Court alleging inordinate delay by Khan in clearing legislation. While hearing the government’s plea, the Supreme Court had asked the Kerala Governor’s additional chief secretary to refer to its recent verdict in Punjab’s case, where it had held that governors cannot “thwart the normal course of lawmaking”. While deciding on the Punjab government’s plea against Governor Banwarilal Purohit, the top court had held that governors cannot take the liberty to keep bills pending indefinitely without any action.