Uncertainty over MBBS admission Bill

The fate of the Kerala Professional Colleges (Regularisation of Admission in Medical Colleges) Bill passed by the Kerala Assembly on Wednesday hangs in the balance with the possibility of Governor P. Sathasivam not giving his ready assent to it.

The Governor has the option to return the Bill seeking clarifications from the government. It will then be the government’s turn to decide whether or not to push the Bill once again to Raj Bhavan.

It will also be a race against time for the government as the validity of the ordinance, which the Bill seeks to replace, will expire on Sunday. The Law Department passed on the Bill to the Health Department on Friday, to be forwarded to the Governor for his assent.

The State Cabinet, which met here on Friday, did not take up the issue, probably indicating that it will rather see the movement of the Bill as a matter of procedure.

The Governor can return the Bill to the government seeking clarifications. If the government indeed wishes to push the Bill disregarding the furore over the perceived legislative impropriety involved and the flak it had received, it will return to the Governor with its clarifications.

It might, in the event of there being no possibility of the Governor granting assent to the Bill, choose not to pursue the matter beyond that point.

“See, this is an unprecedented situation. What can the government do once a Bill has been adopted by the Assembly? We have to forward the Bill to the Governor and wait for his decision, and that is what we will do,” a top leader of the ruling alliance told The Hindu here on Friday.

The government is inclined to see the Bill as a standalone legislation given the way key provision in the ordinance on admission supervision has been changed. A spokesperson for the government contended that the Supreme Court had refused to entertain arguments about the Bill on Wednesday because of this.

“The Medical Council of India may go to court again questioning the validity of the Bill, or the Act if the Governor grants assent to it, then we will have to argue our case differently. All that will depend on what decision the Governor takes,” said the spokesperson.

A three-member BJP delegation, led by O. Rajagopal, MLA, will call on the Governor on Saturday to plead with him not to grant assent to the Bill.