Kottayam: Hinting his unwillingness to approve the Ordinances, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Thursday said he was not a rubber stamp to sign on dotted lines.
He questioned the contents of the University Act Amendment and Lokayukta Act Amendment bills without naming them.
"The Assembly has every right to pass and adopt any measure. But I have a duty to perform, an obligation to see that whatever is recommended to me and asked to sign is exactly in accordance with the constitution, with law, its spirit, and well-established conventions, not just in India, but all over the world," Khan told reporters in Kottayam after attending a function at MG university.
He alleged the bills were intended to legalise all illegal activities taken place so far.
"I have not seen the bill, but whatever I read from the newspaper, one thing I can make clear. I shall not allow the autonomy of the university to be diluted. I shall not allow executive interference in the university - which means, the government trying to take the power of university appointments into its own hands. This is not possible. It will result in an erosion of autonomy," Khan said.
"Autonomy is sacrosanct. I cannot allow a mechanism to be adopted whereby it can be used to appoint underqualified and unqualified relatives of those in power, or relatives of personnel staff of those in power. I will only take a constitutional decision," Khan added.
He also indicated that the basic principle of jurisprudence does not allow anyone to be the judge of their own cause.
With several accusations levelled against the government, these bills are an attempt to "legalise all the illegalities", Khan said.
