Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has opened a new offensive front against Pinarayi Vijayan-led government, issuing a letter directing vice-chancellors of nine state universities in Kerala to resign by 11:30 am on October 24.
On Friday, the government faced a setback when the Supreme Court cancelled the appointment of Dr Rajashree M.S. as vice chancellor of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, pointing out that UGC rules were violated during her appointment. The search committee to appoint a VC should recommend a panel of three names, and VC should be selected and appointed by the chancellor from these three names, according to the UGC norms. In Rajashree’s case, she was the only candidate on the panel. The court pronounced the verdict, setting aside Rajashree’s appointment as null and void ab initio on a petition filed by Professor Dr Sreejith P.S.
In five other state universities also, the VCs were appointed without following the UGC norm of forming a panel that has three candidates. Two among them—VCs of the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies and Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit—were appointed by Governor Khan and the rest were appointed by former governor P. Sathasivam.
The governor cited the Supreme Court verdict on Rajashree’s case while demanding the resignation of the VCs. He also cited the UGC norm that the presence of non-academicians in the selection committee also as a reason for the ineligibility of VCs in certain universities as this too amounts to violation on UGC norms.
Experts in the higher education domain point out that if a VC is being sacked by a governor/chancellor, it is quite unlikely that he/she would get even a membership at any academic body in India. Besides, these persons are unlikely to get any Constitutional position in the future. This means that the governor’s actions can have drastic consequences on the careers of these academicians.
Meanwhile, Kerala University Dr V.P. Mahadevan Pillai—whose term would end tomorrow—has announced that he will not submit his resignation, and that governor can take any action. There is a possibility that Pillai could be sacked from the post before he retires.
The governor cited the Supreme Court verdict on Rajashree’s case while demanding the resignation of the VCs. The governor alleged multiple times in the past that the Vijayan government is showing favouritism and nepotism in varsity appointments. Governor Khan is, quite apparently, positioning the latest measures also as part of his “stringent” measures against favouritism. However, the move to demand the resignation of nine VCs shocked even those who are vocal against alleged procedural violations in the higher education segment.
“The governor’s current move is leading things to a crisis,” says Shajar Khan, secretary of Save University Campaign, a whistle-blower group in the higher education domain of Kerala. “There is no doubt that there have been procedural violations in many of these appointments. However, who made these appointments? For instance, the Kalady Sanskrit university VC was appointed by Arif Mohammad Khan. So, it is not the appointee, but the person who appointed these VCs without following the procedures is the greater culprit. The procedures were violated by the governor.” Shajar Khan adds that if nine VCs were terminated suddenly by the governor, it would lead to an extreme crisis in higher education segment.
“This whole thing has diverted from the academic pointers that we presented (to the governor) and it has gained a new political dimension,” he says. “The actions (of the governor) are now based on petty political interests, and with certain vested interests. The points raised by us remain valid. There should be action against violations of norms. However, these actions should not be based on a political motivation. These political motivations are now very blatant.”
The higher education department is treading cautiously with respect to the developments. Sources close to the state higher education minister said that no VC will resign. The government is planning to file a review petition against the SC verdict that quashed the appointment of Technical University VC. The government is seeing the move as another political stunt from the governor.
Earlier on Sunday, the LDF announced a protest march against the governor on November 15. The move was announced by CPI(M) state secretary M.V. Govindan and CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran jointly.
Meanwhile, the sources from Raj Bhavan hint that the governor will take “what needs to be done” in case the vice-chancellors are not submitting their resignations within the stipulated time. The Raj Bhavan is keeping on everyone on tenterhooks with this as this is likely to cause a huge disruption in the higher education domain of Kerala on Diwali day.
