THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Exercising his powers as Chancellor, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has suspended the resolutions of the Syndicate and Board of Governors of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) that were reportedly ‘illegal’ and aimed at curtailing the functioning of Vice Chancellor Ciza Thomas who was appointed by the Governor in November last year.
The Vice Chancellor had not given her assent to the resolutions adopted on January 1 and February 17. The constitution of a Syndicate sub-committee to oversee ‘day-to-day’ functioning of the varsity, another sub-committee to examine the transfer of university staff and the insistence that the Syndicate should be privy to all the correspondence between the VC and Chancellor were some of the controversial resolutions. The Vice Chancellor had informed the Governor of the resolutions that were adopted after recording her dissent.
The Syndicate was irked after the Academic Director handling degree certificates was removed from the post following certain irregularities. As per section 10 (3) of the KTU Act, the Chancellor is empowered to amend or suspend any resolution of the university bodies that are against varsity rules. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Governor has received legal opinion that Ciza can continue as VC till the expiry of her six-month term in May as the High Court had not given any specific direction that she should step down from the post.