Bengaluru:

In a major decision, the Karnataka government has replaced the Governor with the Chief Minister as Chancellor of the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University.

The decision was taken at the cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Speaking to the media, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs H.K. Patil stated: “The cabinet has given consent to the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University Amendment Act. The major change this amendment bill will bring is until now his Excellency Governor was to be the Chancellor. However, now, with this amendment, the Chief Minister will be the Chancellor.”

“There are two to three reasons for this decision. The government wants the institute to be more creative, to expedite making of the decisions and Universities are directly related to administration, rural welfare and development. They need to be managed properly on the academic front and the cabinet has decided to make the Chief Minister as the Chancellor,” Minister Patil stated.

He further stated, “All the powers vested with the Chancellor will also get transferred to the Chief Minister. The state government instead of the Governor has decided to make the Chief Minister the Chancellor for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University.”

When asked about whether it will apply to other universities as well, Minister Patil stated: “The decision is taken on this university today, when the matter of other universities comes up, I will discuss them. This enactment is different. There are other sets of laws for other universities. The bills need the consent of the Governor. This system is there in many states including Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh state.”

The cabinet passed nine bills in the meeting.

The important bills included, the Karnataka Laborers’ Welfare Amendment Act, which deals with the contribution of labour, owner and government contributions to corpus. The quantum of the contribution of Rs 20 from labour, Rs 40 from owners and Rs 20 from the government will now be increased to Rs 50 from labour, Rs 100 from owners and Rs 50 from the government. This will enable making the corpus big and about Rs 100 crores will be collected additionally per year.

The cabinet cleared the Karnataka Underground Water Regulations and Control of Development and Management Amendment Act. The act deals with the open borewells which are not closed and pose danger to the life of kids.

Minister Patil stated: “In Bagalkot, a baby was stuck inside a borewell after falling into it as it was not closed and became a national news. Repeated tragedies were reported after that incident. The bill aims that the open borewells must be closed and it is enacted for careful management purposes.

“The land owner and those who dug the borewell will be held responsible. One year imprisonment and a Rs 10,000 fine will be imposed if they are found guilty. The violations of rules amount to three months of imprisonment and imposition of a fine of Rs 5,000,” Minister Patil stated.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)