Kerala High Court Stays Chancellor Order To Remove Calicut University VC
Justice Mohammed Nias C P passed the order on the petition against the decision of Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan in his capacity as the Chancellor of the state varsities. On March 7, the Governor of Kerala in his capacity of Chancellor directed the VC of the University of Calicut and Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit to vacate their posts. The Raj Bhavan ordered them to vacate the office in 10 days.
The Kerala High Court has stayed the Chancellor’s order to remove MK Jayaraj, the Vice Chancellor of the Calicut University. However, the High Court refused to interfere in the removal of M V Narayanan, Vice Chancellor of the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit. After the HC order, Arif Khan appointed Dr K K Geethakumari, a Sanskrit Professor at Calicut University as the VC of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit.
According to the official information, the Chancellor”s decision came in alleged violation of University Grant Commission (UGC) regulations in the appointment of Vice Chancellors of both universities. In the case of Calicut University, it was said that the Chief Secretary was involved in the search committee to choose the VC. However, the UGC guidelines say that the members of the committee should not be connected to the university in any manner.
Hence, the appointment of both the VCs was treated as ‘void ab initio’ means ‘to be treated as invalid from the outset’ in light of earlier Supreme Court Judgments on the issue of the appointment of VCs. In October 2022, the Supreme Court removed the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University VC on the grounds of violation of UGC regulations on appointment.
In the state, several VCs moved to the High Court against the show cause notice issued by the governor asking for their removal from the posts. In January this year, the Kerala High Court asked the Chancellor to give a hearing to VCs within six weeks and directed that any decision taken shall not be implemented for 10 days.
