KOTTAYAM: It is for the second straight time in the MGU’s 36-year long history a Vice-Chancellor is being shown the door before completing the tenure for not possessing the requisite qualification for holding the post.
The nullification of the appointment of former Director of the State Institute of Education Technology (SIET) Babu Sebastian, who assumed charge as VC on September 1, 2014, came barely four years after his predecessor A V George was dismissed from service on May 13, 2014, by the then Governor Sheila Dixit after it emerged he did not have the necessary qualifications for the Vice-Chancellor’s post.
It is believed George was the first VC of any university in the state to be shunted out thus. The tenure of Babu Sebastian, a nominee of the Kerala Congress (M), ends in August this year. Interestingly, Dixit chose Sebastian from a panel of three names proposed by the three-member Search Committee in 2014. The pace at which the committee went about preparing the panel of three names and its acceptance by the Governor clearly indicated the then UDF Government wanted the posting to be made before Dikshit’s resignation as Governor.
With this, the row over the qualifications of the VC has rocked the varsity yet again even as calls from experts and academicians for strict adherence to the UGC Regulations while picking incumbents for higher posts have fallen on deaf ears. PK Harikumar, MG University Syndicate member, said nullification of the appointment of the present VC by the High Court was a setback. “The previous UDF Government did not adhere to the UGC norms in Sebastian’s appointment,” he said.Meanwhile, varsity sources maintained Sebastian will indeed approach the Supreme Court against the HC directive.