Cold war between MVA, governor may intensify
MUMBAI: The ongoing cold war between the state government and Raj Bhavan may intensify, with the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime curtailing the powers of the governor in overseeing functioning of state universities.
The state cabinet on Wednesday cleared a proposal to create a new position of the pro-chancellor for universities. Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, by law, is the chancellor of universities. According to the proposal, the governor’s powers to appoint vice-chancellors will be trimmed, with the search committee set up to identify probable candidates submitting five names to the state, which, in turn, will forward two to the governor. At present, this list is submitted directly to Raj Bhavan. The MVA and the governor have clashed on a range of issues, the most notable being the appointment of 12 persons to the state legislative council that has been pending for over a year. MVA leaders accuse the Governor of acting as a proxy for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A senior minister from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) admitted that the state cabinet’s decision had been prompted by the tussle with the governor. “The governor often sits on decisions and this move will streamline the functioning and administration
of universities... The position of a governor is an ornamental one, and does not have executive powers. If impediments are being created in the working of a government, it must remove them,” he said. Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MP and spokesperson Arvind Sawant, however, denied this was an attempt to encroach on the governor’s turf. “But, considering how the governor has been behaving for the past two years, this has created an impediment in the functioning of varsities,” Sawant said.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) spokesperson Atul Londhe said, “This is not a tussle between the government and the governor,” Londhe said.
While Raj Bhavan officials declined to comment, BJP leader and former minister Ashish Shelar alleged that the decision was taken with an eye on the land controlled by universities. He said, “The MVA government has changed the laid-down method of picking VCS under Maharashtra Public Universities Act. This clearly means that selection of VCS will now be done by the ‘Yuva Sena kitchen cabinet’ (the youth wing of Shiv Sena led by Aaditya Thackeray).
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar denied that the amendments trimmed the powers of the governor and refuted claims of this being a political move. Instead, he asked, “Does the delay in appointing 12 MLCS fits into democratic norms?”