Pinarayi Vijayan slams Kerala Guv over summons to police chief
Leader of Opposition in the Keralam Assembly Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday termed it “undemocratic” for Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to reportedly summon the State police chief without consulting the CM or home minister.
Vijayan was referring to reports that Arlekar had summoned State Police Chief Ravada A Chandrasekhar to the Lok Bhavan in connection with a student protest at Kalady University recently.
In a Facebook post, Vijayan claimed that the governor's move amounted to direct interference in the administration of the state without respecting the elected Government.
He termed the UDF Government's silence in the face of such “overbearing tendencies and constitutional violations” as “extremely shameful”.
He claimed it was a blatant violation of constitutional principles and a public challenge to the democratic system, while accusing the UDF Government of being afraid to speak out against it.
He contended that there was no justification for such “wrong” moves by the governor and accused him of trying to establish a parallel administration by turning the Government into a mere spectator.
“The governor must act according to the aid and advice of the Cabinet,” the Marxist veteran said in his post.
The former CM said the Supreme Court had made it clear that Article 163 of the Constitution did not grant the governor unlimited powers and that he did not have the authority to take unilateral decisions.
The governor can act only after consulting the CM or the concerned departmental minister, but in the case of the Kalady University incident, no such consultation took place, he contended.
Vijayan contended that it was wrong for the governor to directly deal with the State police chief and alleged that it would lead to the state's police administration being “pawned off” to the RSS.
He questioned whether Chandrasekhar had met Arlekar with the permission of State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala.
Vijayan said that as students and the general public strongly opposed the interference of governors in higher education and universities, the conciliatory stance of the Government was allowing the governor to interfere in other departments as well.
“The governor sees the Government's silence as tacit compliance. He is effectively challenging the constitutional federal powers of the Government,” he contended.
He contended that such an accommodation between the State Government and the governor would have far-reaching consequences.
Vijayan said the UDF Government was also silent when the Governor had called senior bureaucrats to the Lok Bhavan in connection with the Yoga Day celebrations.
He claimed that during the LDF Government's tenure, strong constitutional defences had been raised against similar “encroachments” from the Lok Bhavan.
He said that, as the then CM, he had written a letter to the Lok Bhavan on the issue and warned the officials.
“The surrender by the current elected UDF Government, by pledging its sovereignty and rights, is an insult to the voters,” Vijayan contended in his post.
