Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 26 (IANS): Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who had shown signs of rapprochement with the state government, had again come out against it over the appointment of a search committee for the Vice Chancellor of the Malayalam University.

The Governor, in a letter to the state government on Sunday, questioned the rationale behind the appointment of such a committee, and asked as to how the government can ask Raj Bhavan to nominate a member to such a panel.

The Governor, in the letter written by the Raj Bhavan Secretary in his name, stated that the state government had not nominated a representative when the search committee was formed with the UGC representative.

The state Assembly had passed a bill curtailing the power of the Governor to appoint the Vice Chancellor of a university in Kerala. However, the Governor has not yet given his assent to the bill and this leads to the bill having no legal validity.