Date: 21 June 2023

-- Punjab assembly passes Bill to remove Governor as Chancellor of state Universities^[1]
-- Becomes 4th state to pass similar bill^[1:1]
-- Only Gujarat's bill has been signed by Governor till now^[2]

¶ Recommendations by different commissions

Puunchi Commission^[3][4]

• It observed that the role of Governor as the Chancellor may expose the office to controversies or public criticism
• Hence the role of the Governor should be restricted to constitutional provisions only

Sarkaria Commission^[3:1]

• The Sarkaria Commission recommended that state legislatures should avoid conferring statutory powers on the Governor, which were not envisaged by the Constitution

UGC^[5]

• The UGC believes that the appointment of Chancellors are under the domain of States
• And the higher education regulator(UGC) can intervene only when there are anomalies in the appointment of Vice Chancellors

¶ Earlier Precedents^[5:1][4:1]

• In April 2022, the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly passed two Bills to transfer power of appointment of VCs
• On June 15, 2022, West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was passed by assembly
• In 2021, Maharashtra amended the process to appoint the Vice Chancellor of state public universities but undone by subsequent BJP+ government
• Kerala passed similar legislature
• Rajasthan too has prepared a draft bill for similar law

All these legislations are still waiting for the nod from Governors

¶ Gujarat^{[5:2][6][2:1]}

-- Gujarat Assembly had also passed the Gujarat Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill in 2013 to remove the Governor as Vice Chancellor of State universities
-- Signed by the Governor in 2015, after the BJP came to power at the Centre

References:

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1. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/punjab-assembly-unanimously-passes-bill-making-cm-chancellor-of-state-run-universities-replacing-governor-101687288365717.html ↩︎ ↩︎

2. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/governor-signs-away-all-his-powers-over-varsities/articleshow/47570498.cms ↩︎ ↩︎

3. https://prsindia.org/theprsblog/explained-role-of-governor-in-public-universities?page=9&per-page=1 ↩︎ ↩︎

4. https://www.outlookindia.com/national/explained-can-a-governor-be-removed-as-a-chancellor-of-universities-what-previous-incidents-say-news-235892 ↩︎ ↩︎

5. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ugc-not-to-interfere-in-opposition-states-move-to-remove-governors-as-chancellors-of-universities/article66676290.ece ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

6. https://prsindia.org/files/bills_acts/bills_states/gujarat/2020/Bill 26 of 2020 Gujarat.pdf ↩︎