Governor Arif Mohammed Khan is most likely to choose the third of the four possible courses of action before him after the Kerala Assembly passed the two University Law (Amendment) Bills replacing the Governor as the Chancellor of State universities on Tuesday.
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Under Article 200 of the Constitution, the Governor assents to, or withholds assent to, or reserves the Bill for the consideration of the President, or returns the Bill (if not a money Bill) for reconsideration, with his message when a Bill passed by the State Legislature is presented for assent. Mr. Khan is likely to go for the third option of referring the Bills to the President, according to the office of the Governor.
He had taken a similar position when the Cabinet had resolved on November 9 to request him to promulgate an Ordinance removing him as the Chancellor of State universities. Mr. Khan had then said he would not sit in judgement over the Ordinance if its purpose is to target him and shall refer [to the President]. He had also stated earlier that the subject “education” is in the Concurrent List (List III) of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
Mr. Khan may be in no hurry to refer the Bill to the President as Article 200 does not lay down any time frame for the Governor to take the next step though he is supposed to “act as soon as possible after the presentation.” Interestingly, he is yet to sign the Kerala Lok Ayukta (Amendment) Act, 2022 and University Laws (Amendment) Act, 2022 passed by the State Assembly on August 30 and September 1 respectively.