Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday called Governor Arif Mohammad Khan “absurd” his statement on alleged nepotism in appointments in state universities. Addressing a press conference here, the Chief Minister urged the Governor to maintain the dignity of his office.
Responding to Khan’s allegations, he asked, “Is this the meaning of the office of governor?” He was replying to a question on Khan’s statement on Thursday in which he had said that he would not allow it. University Law Amendment Bill Recently passed by the state assembly, alleging that it seeks to legitimize illegality and pave the way for the appointment of “disqualified relatives” of employees of the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues.
Terming the governor’s statement as absurd, Vijayan said his government has so far avoided a confrontation with Khan over the issue. The CM said, ‘We have not yet taken any stand on this issue. But a point has been reached where the limit has been crossed.
The governor was attacking the Left government after Kannur University’s move to appoint a relative of Vijayan’s private secretary to a teaching post there.
Criticizing Khan for targeting him and his private employees on the issue, Vijayan sought to know what is wrong if the relatives of a private employee get appointment in the university if the person is eligible for that post. “Did that person ask while applying for the position? Chief Minister To do that?” Vijayan asked.
He said that if any application is made and there are some flaws in it, it should be investigated and those who make mistakes have to bear the brunt. “… What right does he (the Governor) have to say that a person cannot apply for a post merely because (he) is the kin of a staff member of the Chief Minister?” Vijayan inquired.
The Chief Minister also took a dig at the Governor for questioning the practice of putting up hoardings of political parties and their youth wing inside university campuses and sought to know whether he was thinking that the normal functioning of organizations on the campus could be banned. . “I don’t know what is happening to him? It is for himself to see. Otherwise, he who is close to him should see. What is the intention? Is he thinking that normal functioning of organizations on campuses may be restricted ?” Vijayan asked and said that such thinking does not suit a mature person.
He criticized the governor for frequently giving statements to the media on governance-related issues, saying it was not a constitutional way of addressing the matter.
Noting that governance has its own process, the CM said, “we never get in the way of that process and if anyone has a different view on it, there are constitutional provisions to address it”. “Instead, if you keep making statements on Mike in a serious way as if you have a right to speak on such issues, that is not the constitutional way. I just want to emphasize that,” he said.
Talking to reporters in Kottayam on Thursday, Khan had also questioned the practice of political parties putting up hoardings inside university campuses and asked, “Do they pay the university for this?” Stating that they cannot be used as rubber stamps, Khan had also indicated that he was against the Lokayukta Amendment Bill, which was recently passed by the Assembly, asserting that any Cannot be a judge on his own reason.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.
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