Kerala governor signs 5 'non-controversial' bills, heads to Delhi

T'PURAM: Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, on Wednesday, signed five of the 11 bills passed by the state legislative assembly that were awaiting his assent at Raj Bhavan. The governor, who left for New Delhi, is expected to sign four more non-controversial bills after he returns sometime next month.
Khan had, time and again, clarified that he will not give his assent to the Universities Act Amendment Bill and the Lokayukta Act Amendment Bill. On Monday, at an unusual news conference, he clarified that he cannot let anybody be the 'judge of his own cause' in an indirect allusion to the Lokayukta Act Amendment Bill.
The bills signed by governor Khan, as confirmed by Raj Bhavan on Wednesday, are the following. Kerala Maritime Board Amendment Bill, Local Self-Government General Services Amendment Bill, Public Service Commission Amendment Bill and Kerala Jewellery Workers Welfare Board Bill and Fiscal Responsibility Act Amendment Bill.
The recent special assembly session had passed 12 bills. Of this, the Waqf Board Act amendment bill that rescinded the earlier decision to leave appointments in Waqf institutions to PSC was approved by the governor much earlier.
Sources close to Raj Bhavan said no special conditions were laid down for approving non-controversial bills. There were rumours that Khan had said that he would sign no bills, unless his queries were answered either by the minister concerned or the department secretary, in person. However, the governor in his news conference on Tuesday said that he had asked the ministers not to meet him with their private secretaries.