THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid the ongoing standoff in Kerala University between the Left-dominated Syndicate and Vice Chancellor Dr Mohanan Kunnummal, the latter adjourned a meeting of the varsity apex body on Friday citing lack of quorum. The meeting of the Syndicate was being held after a gap of two months to discuss and ratify key academic and administrative matters.
The entire forenoon session of the meeting was marred by protests as pro-Left Syndicate members demanded that Registrar in charge Resmi R, whose tenure had ended, should be removed and their nominee should be appointed. Later, it was found that the Left-backed Syndicate members had not registered their attendance.
“Senior government officials, who are ex-officio members of the Syndicate, had also not turned up for the meeting. This prompted the VC to adjourn the meeting citing lack of quorum,” said a Syndicate member. Sources close to the Vice Chancellor said he would approve urgent academic matters including award of PhD degrees, using his statutory powers.
Pro-Left Syndicate members staged a protest at the varsity to protest against the VC’s decision. They claimed that 19 Syndicate members were present at the meeting and refuted claims that the quorum was not met.
Left-backed Syndicate member G Muralidharan alleged that Kunnummal “ran away” from the meeting citing technicalities to avoid facing tough questions. The items on the agenda included the awarding of PhD degrees to several students, disbursal of funds for students’ arts and cultural activities and other academic development projects.
Meanwhile, BJP-backed syndicate members Vinod Kumar T G Nair and P S Gopakumar alleged that pro-Left syndicate members had hatched a conspiracy to scuttle the Syndicate meeting.
“The absence of senior government officials, who are ex-officio Syndicate members raises suspicion that the entire episode was part of a conspiracy,” said Gopakumar. The pro-BJP syndicate members added that the insistence on changing the Registrar at a crucial juncture, when funding for union government sponsored projects such as PM-USHA are at a decisive stage, was driven by vested interests.