THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Exercising his powers as Chancellor, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has ordered M K Jayaraj and M V Narayanan, the vice chancellors of Calicut and Sanskrit universities respectively, to step down from their posts. They were shown the door on the grounds that their selection as VCs was not in accordance with UGC regulations. However, the order will not take effect for 10 days, as per an earlier High Court order.
Regarding the continuance of Digital University V-C Saji Gopinath and Sreenarayanaguru Open University V-C P M Mubarak Pasha in office, the governor has referred the matter to the UGC, Raj Bhavan sources said. Last month, the governor had conducted a hearing of four V-Cs after issuing showcause notices. The hearing was conducted on the directions of the HC.
Continuance of SGOU, digital varsity V-Cs: Guv refers matter to UGC
The High Court had also ruled that the orders to be passed by the Chancellor on the show-cause notices would not be given effect for 10 days from the date of passing them. This would give the ousted VCs sufficient time to appeal against the Chancellor’s decision.
The Raj Bhavan had issued show-cause notices to 11 VCs in October 2022 in the wake of a Supreme Court order that annulled the appointment of M S Rajasree as Vice-Chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU).
Since seven of the 11 VCs had either completed their tenures or were expelled following court verdicts, the hearing was held for the remaining four.
Jayaraj was ousted as the search panel that proposed his name included the chief secretary, a nominee of the government.
In the case of Narayanan, the search committee had proposed a single name instead of a panel of names. Both procedures were against UGC regulations, the Chancellor reportedly concluded.
Saji Gopinath and Mubarak Pasha were appointed as first V-Cs of their respective universities. Conventionally, the first V-C of a newly established university is appointed by the government.
However, various court verdicts have stated that even the appointment of the first V-C should be through a proper selection process.
Taking these factors into account, the governor referred the matter to the UGC to obtain a clarification, before taking any action against them. Pasha had skipped the hearing and reportedly submitted his resignation but it was not accepted by the governor.