THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The selection of a new vice-chancellor (VC) for Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University has become the latest flashpoint between Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the state government.
While the LDF regime wants the VC selection to be done by a five-member search-cum-selection committee, which would ensure greater leverage for the government, Khan wants to continue with the earlier practice of entrusting the task to a three-member panel.
Sources said the Raj Bhavan has asked the Higher Education Department the grounds on which the five-member committee is being constituted. This was in response to two letters sent by the department, one in January and the other recently, requesting the governor to furnish the name of his representative to the committee. The government initiating the process of VC selection constitutes a break from convention, academics said.
“Since the university rules still stipulate a three-member committee for VC selection, the government has been asked to specify the reasons for constituting a five-member panel. The letter from the Raj Bhavan also asked the department under which provisions was the chancellor’s nominee being sought in the panel,” said a source. Since the university law has not been amended, the governor has chosen to play by the book, the source added.
The tenure of incumbent VC V Anil Kumar ends on February 28. According to the Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University Act, 2013, a committee comprising nominees of the Chancellor, the government and the University Grants Commission (UGC) should be constituted to select a new Vice-Chancellor.
However, the state assembly had in September last year passed the University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 that increases the number of members in the selection panel from three to five. The Bill has not yet received the governor’s assent.
As per the amendment, the search-cum-selection committee will include one member each nominated by the chairman of the UGC, the chancellor, the vice-chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council, the Syndicate of the university, and the government.
Since the Bill has not become law, it is unlikely that the governor will agree to a selection process with a five-member panel. Since the selection process is likely to be long-drawn, the governor is likely to give charge of the varsity’s top post to the VC of another university, sources indicated.