Kerala High Court asks Governor not to take any action against vice-chancellors

KOCHI : The Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who is Chancellor of the universities in the state not to take any action against the vice- chancellors who were given show-cause notices by him until the court hears the matter. Justice Devan Ramachandran gave three more days' time to the chancellor to file his reply and posted the matter for further hearing on November 17.

Khan, as Chancellor of universities, had issued show-cause notices to VCs of 11 universities in the state against which the VCs' have approached the court claiming that the notice was illegal and void. Khan told the court that all the VCs have replied to his notice.

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The high court had on November 3 extended till November 7 the time for VCs to respond to show-cause notices sent to them by Khan. The notices sought to know from the VCs as to why they should be allowed to continue in their posts, as their appointments were illegal as per a recent Supreme Court ruling.

On October 21, the top court quashed the appointment of the VC of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, saying that as per the University Grants Commission (UGC), the search committee constituted by the state should have recommended a panel of not less than three suitable people in the field of engineering science to the Chancellor but, instead it sent only one name. Based on that, Khan called for the resignations of VCs whose names were the only ones recommended for appointment and also those who were selected by a committee of which the Chief Secretary of the State was a member, terming both as a violation of UGC regulations.