Education Bills: Guv,Nitish on collision course,Speaker to step in

Six months ago,the Governor had returned Bihar University Commission Bill 2011 and Patna University (Amendment) Bill terming them “money Bills”. Speaker Udai Narain Choudhary gave a ruling during last budget session and called it “general Bills”. Konwar,however,has asked fresh questions regarding the Bills.

Sources said Konwar in his capacity as the chancellor of universities in Bihar wants to constitute a commission to ensure appointment and promotion of employees and teachers,as against the state government’s stand.

The government’s proposed education Bills,according to the Raj Bhavan,will minimise the Governor’s say in appointment of vice-chancellors besides curtailing his financial powers.

While Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has played down the controversy by dismissing any “stand-off between the Governor and government”,HRD Minister P K Sahi and some other ruling party members have requested the Speaker to take a call on the three Bills in the current Assembly session. The CM said: “Let the Speaker decide the nature of Bills. There have been constitutional provisions in place and the matter should be resolved soon.”

Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi was more forthright. “After we raised objections to the Raj bhavan sitting over 14 Bills two months ago,seven Bills were cleared in a day. The delay from Governor’s side is not doing any good to the government’s development agenda,” he said.