The Kerala government appeared optimistic on Saturday that Governor Arif Mohammed Khan will give his assent to summon the legislative Assembly on December 31 for a one-day emergency session to discuss the national-level farmers’ agitation and its implications for the State’s food security.
The administration’s move to pass a resolution at the sitting against the farm reform laws that thrust farmers in the rice-bowl States in north India on the warpath against the Centre had reportedly emerged as a sore point between the ruling coalition and Mr. Khan.
‘No jurisdiction’
Mr. Khan had withheld his assent to convoke the Assembly on December 21 for the very purpose because he felt the State legislature lacked the “jurisdiction to offer a solution” to the farmers’ strike.
In the past, Mr. Khan had expressed scepticism over whether the Assembly could discuss or hazard a judgment on the Constitutional validity of laws enacted by Parliament. He had aired a similar sentiment when the Assembly passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act in December 2019.
Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar said the government had answered the questions raised by Mr. Khan satisfactorily. Law Minister A.K. Balan and Mr. Sunil Kumar called on Mr. Khan on Friday in a bid to iron out differences. Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan followed suit on Saturday.
Officials said Mr. Khan had withheld consent for the December 21 session primarily because the government “failed” to convey with clarity of purpose the urgency to summon the Assembly at short notice.
The Governor had found the language in government communications imprecise. It left him wondering whether any farmer distress in Kerala had precipitated a crisis that necessitated the urgent summoning of the Assembly, bypassing the minimum 15-day notice period to members.
The Governor’s refusal to give assent had earned him criticism from the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) and plaudits from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stated that Mr. Khan’s action was “unconstitutional”. The Governor had no choice but to convene the Assembly once counselled to do so by the cabinet. The BJP praised Mr. Khan for “upholding federalism”.
