THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ending months of wrangling, the meetings of the Syndicates of the University of Kerala and the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) went off smoothly on Tuesday, much to the relief of students and other academic stakeholders.
In Kerala University, VC Dr Mohanan Kunnummal and the pro-Left Syndicate have been at loggerheads for the past few months over the suspension of Registrar K S Anil Kumar, who enjoys the support of the Left government.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the Left-backed Syndicate members objected to the participation of Mini Dijo Kappen, who was given the charge of Registrar by the VC.
On being informed that Mini had already requested that she be relieved from the post of Registrar-in charge, the Syndicate insisted that the charge should be handed over to Joint Registrar P Harikumar. However, the VC pointed out that the official was already facing disciplinary action. The Syndicate then decided that Joint Registrar Resmi R be given the charge of Registrar.
However, the Vice-Chancellor refused to comply with the Syndicate’s demand that Anil Kumar be granted leave till the case over his suspension is disposed of. Anil Kumar, who defied the suspension and continued to attend office at the behest of the ruling Left, did not turn up at the varsity on Tuesday.
“The Syndicate meeting resolved to grant PhD degree to 63 scholars and to spend the Rs 100 crore granted to the university under the PM-USHA scheme in a time-bound manner before the end of the current fiscal,” said a Syndicate member. However, the Syndicate’s demand to allot additional seats in colleges was turned down by the VC.
In KTU, the Syndicate meeting on Tuesday approved the university’s long-pending budget subject to its ratification by the Board of Governors.
The standoff between Vice Chancellor K Sivaprasad and the Syndicate had landed the budget passage in uncertainty since April, thereby affecting the disbursal of salary and pension to the university staff.
The KTU syndicate meeting also took up all pending items on the agenda of the previous meetings.
The university’s apex body also decided to reappoint KTU’s former Registrar and Controller of Examinations who had returned to their parent organisations after their deputation periods ended. However, sources pointed out that such a provision was not in accordance with university rules.