THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala University Vice-Chancellor Mohanan Kunnummal has raised serious concerns over the conduct of registrar K S Anil Kumar during a function attended by Governor Rajnath Arlekar at the Senate Hall on June 25. In a preliminary report submitted to the Raj Bhavan, the V-C has recommended a detailed inquiry into the registrar’s actions, which he said were based on vague allegations and without proper evidence.
The event, organised by a pro-right wing organisation to mark 50 years of the Emergency, saw massive protests by student unions outside the hall against the use of the image of the Bharat Mata holding a saffron flag. The registrar had cancelled the programme citing the varsity’s law that prohibited use of religious symbols at a programme held on the campus. However, the organisers continued with the event, which was attended by Arlekar amid protests.
Kunnummal observed that the registrar did not show “due responsibility” and acted without any specific or credible report regarding the alleged religious symbol. None of the reports from the registrar, security officer or the public relations officer identified the symbol or even the religion to which it belonged to. Despite being present on stage, the registrar failed to provide any first-hand account of witnessing such a symbol, the report said.
The V-C also questioned the registrar’s move to cancel the sanction granted to conduct the programme at the Senate Hall even as the National Anthem was being sung and the governor was on stage. He also questioned the “audacity” of the move and emphasised that it undermined institutional credibility.
The report also had the version of the event organisers, Sree Padmanabha Seva Samithi, who alleged the registrar was influenced by certain Syndicate members and acted with an intent to derail the function simply because a photograph of Bharat Mata, which was not a religious symbol mentioned in the rules, was displayed on stage.
The report was submitted in response to a letter from Raj Bhavan seeking clarification on the controversy surrounding the function, which also featured a book release. Kunnummal concluded that the matter warranted both a thorough internal inquiry and possible external investigation due to the nature of the allegations and their impact on the constitutional decorum of a university event attended by the head of state.