Thiruvananthapuram, February 24 – A constitutional disagreement between the Kerala government and Governor Rajendra V. Arlekar over the policy address has escalated, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asserting on Tuesday that only the version of the address approved by the Cabinet holds authority under established rules and conventions.
Vijayan told the Assembly that, according to existing rules and conventions, the Cabinet-approved policy decision is the one that is accepted.
He also said that former governors, including Arif Mohammed Khan, had once read the policy address for 1 minute and 22 seconds, but the entire policy address was accepted, Vijayan pointed out.
Following this, Speaker A.N. Shamseer accepted Vijayan’s statement, which weakened the Governor’s demand.
The latest dispute followed a letter from the Governor to Speaker Shamseer stating that the version he read in the Assembly on January 20 should be treated as the official address, not the text cleared by the Council of Ministers and subsequently published.
Incidentally, what happened on January 20 was that Vijayan, immediately after seeing off the Governor on the opening day of the session, informed the House about the deviations from the Cabinet-approved text.
He said that certain clauses had been omitted or altered, and emphasized that the government-approved address must remain the authoritative policy statement.
According to Vijayan, Clause 12, which referred to Kerala’s severe financial stress arising from adverse Union government actions affecting fiscal federalism, was omitted.
In Clause 15, the last two sentences relating to pending state Bills and the government’s move to approach the Supreme Court and a Constitution Bench were removed.
Clause 16, dealing with the states’ constitutional rights over tax revenues and Finance Commission grants, was retained, but with the addition of the phrase "my government believes".
Citing Article 176 of the Constitution, Vijayan said that the Governor’s address at the first session of the year is based on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.
He noted that past rulings by the Chair have consistently upheld the Cabinet-approved text as the valid document placed before the House.
Speaker Shamseer also backed Vijayan on that day, stating that any deviation from the Cabinet-approved text goes against legislative convention and that the official version circulated to members and the media would be the one cleared by the government.
This episode adds to the evolving friction between Raj Bhavan and the elected government, raising fresh questions over constitutional practice and Centre-State dynamics.
