University Laws (Amendment) Bills 

Why in News?

• Kerala Assembly has recently passes University Laws (amendment) Bills to amend laws relating to the governance of State universities and remove the Governor as the Chancellor of State universities.

Highlights

• The Governor and the State Government of Kerala had been at loggerheads for months now.
• It got worse when the Governor denied assent to the controversial Lok Ayukta (Amendment) and University Laws (Amendment) Bills earlier passed by the State Assembly.
• The worsening relationship between the State Government and governor reached a tipping point with the Supreme Court order invalidating APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) Vice-Chancellor’s (VC) appointment on the grounds that it violated University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations.
• Following this, the governor had sought the resignations of 11 other VCs on the ground that the government had appointed them through the same process deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court.
• Earlier UGC Guidelines used to be mandatory for Central universities and “partially mandatory and partially directive” for State universities, had been made legally binding for all universities by way of recent rulings by the Supreme Court.
• Such precedence pointed towards a scenario in which the legislative powers of the Assembly on all subjects on the Concurrent List (of the Constitution) could be undermined through a subordinate legislation or an executive order issued by the Centre.
• It Is said that the bill was brought in order to avoid legal tangles in future.
• If Chancellors were appointed by the Government, they would be indebted to the ruling front, thus leading to the erosion of Universities’ autonomy.
• It may facilitate appointment of people close to the ruling front.
• This will lead to a scenario in which the governor can appoint only those who are close to the government