THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Governor and Chancellor Arif Mohammed Khan on Monday held a hearing of eight of the 10 VCs who were served show-cause notices in October. Khan had served the notices on the VCs asking them why they should continue in office in the wake of a recent Supreme Court ruling that VC postings against UGC regulations were ‘ab-initio’ void.
While three VCs appeared in person, five filed their statements via their counsels.“The VCs had the option of appearing in person or filing their statements through counsels,” said an official, adding that no immediate action against the VCs was likely as the appointment of some of them was sub-judice.
According to the official, the VCs contended that their appointments were in order as per the rules governing their respective universities and that they were entitled to continue in office. Digital University Kerala VC Saji Gopinath, Sree Narayana Guru Open University VC Mubarak Pasha and former VC of Kerala University V P Mahadevan Pillai appeared in person. Though his term ended on October 24, Pillai appeared as he was served the notice while in office.
Though Kannur University VC Gopinath Ravindran had said he will not attend the hearing, his counsel appeared on his behalf, as did the counsels of VCs K N Madhusoodanan (Cusat), V Anil Kumar (Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University), M K Jayaraj (Calicut University) and M V Narayanan (Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit) Though 10 VCs were issued the show-cause notice, only nine had to appear as the Kerala High Court had quashed the appointment of Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies VC Riji K John in November. Of the nine, the hearing of MG University VC Sabu Thomas, who is out of the country, was deferred to January 3 based on his request.