Thiruvananthapuram: State Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has directed that all the 9 Vice-Chancellors of Kerala University should prove their right to continue in their posts by November 3.
A special bench of the Kerala High Court is hearing at 4 pm a petition filed against Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan’s order demanding the resignation of nine university vice-chancellors by 11.30 am on Monday.
The Supreme Court recently ruled that the state government has no power to appoint vice-chancellors to universities. Citing this order, the governor had yesterday ordered all the 9 university vice-chancellors appointed by the state government in Kerala to resign by 11.30 am today (Oct. 24). In a statement issued by the governor’s office, the vice-chancellors of nine universities — Kerala University, Mahatma Gandhi University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kannur University, APJ Abdul Kalam University of Technology, Sri Sankaracharya Sanskrit University, Kozhikode University and Tunjathu Ellachan Malayalam University — should resign by 11.30 am on Monday. .
The petitioners filed a petition against this order in the Kerala High Court. A special bench of the High Court took up the petition. In this situation, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who met the media about this action of the Governor, said, “No Vice-Chancellor should resign. The Governor does not have the power to order the Vice-Chancellors to resign. It is the Governor who appointed the Vice-Chancellors. If the law has been violated in that appointment, the Governor is also responsible. This action of the Governor is unusual. The Governor has the intention of destroying universities in the state. He has waged war on them. No one who respects democracy will accept such trends,” he said.
While the vice-chancellors have filed a case in court against the governor’s decision, governor Arif Muhammad Khan has issued a notice to them. The spokesperson of the Kerala Governor’s House said, “All the 9 vice-chancellors must prove their right to continue as vice-chancellors by 5 pm on November 3. They must prove that their appointment is not illegal. A notice to this effect has been sent to all vice-chancellors and registrars through e-mail.”