The dispute over the 'Bharat Mata' image during a private event conducted at the University Senate Hall on June 25 has eventually resulted in an unprecedented administrative conundrum for Kerala University- the presence of two registrars seemingly loyal to two power centres, one to the Governor and the other to the state government.

The university registrar, K S Anil Kumar, who filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging his suspension by the Vice Chancellor, withdrew his petition on Monday after the majority of the Syndicate members, defying the acting VC Ciza Thomas, reversed the suspension. "Our grievance has been addressed," Anil Kumar's counsel informed the High Court on Monday.

Justice DK Singh orally observed that since the Syndicate had decided to reinstate the Registrar, the correctness of that decision must be determined by the appropriate authority. The opposing counsel's objections were not heard. In other words, the respondents (the Vice Chancellor) will have to move another writ petition questioning the validity of the Syndicate's decision to revoke a suspension order issued by the VC. 

Accordingly, the writ petition was "dismissed as withdrawn". 

However, earlier in the day, before the High Court disposed of the case, the VC-in-charge, Ciza Thomas, appointed Mini Dejo Kappen, Kerala University's director in charge of planning and development, as the 'temporary registrar'. Minutes later, the High Court refused to question Anil Kumar's claim that the Syndicate had reinstated him. Now, there are two candidates claiming the position of Kerala University Registrar.

Legal experts Onmanorama talked to said that two persons cannot occupy one post. The Registrar is the most important functionary in the University after the Chancellor, Pro-Vice Chancellor, and Vice-Chancellor.

The VC will have to grudgingly accept Anil Kumar as the Registrar, at least till the court issues its verdict on another writ petition filed against the Syndicate's move to overturn the VC's decision. In short, the status quo will have to be maintained. 

Mini Kappen, who has been working under Anil Kumar, has to step down. Now that the High Court has disposed of the case, Anil Kumar remains the Registrar. If at all a new registrar has to be appointed, a process has to be followed. Again, it is the Syndicate that appoints the Registrar.

The VC-in-charge, Dr Mohan Kunnummal, had ordered Anil Kumar's suspension, citing section 10(13) of the Kerala University Act. The section says that the VC, in the case of an emergency, can assume the powers of the Syndicate, like suspending an officer in the rank of deputy registrar and above. Nonetheless, the section says that the VC has to get it ratified at the next sitting of the Syndicate.

Given the dominance of members nominated by the LDF government in the Syndicate, the Registrar's suspension could not have been sustained as the Syndicate would have vetoed it. This was also one of the reasons why, when Ciza Thomas convened the Syndicate on July 6, she insisted that the agenda was solely to finalise the University's Statement of Facts for Submission to the High Court on the registrar's suspension or in other words to firm up talking points for her lawyer (Supreme Court lawyer Thomas Abraham) against the 'suspended' registrar. 

The LDF members in the Syndicate objected to this, saying the VC was legally bound to pass the suspension order through the Syndicate. She and two BJP-affiliated members walked out, leaving the field free for the Syndicate to revoke the suspension.

The VC-in-charge, Mohan Kunnummal, had suspended the Registrar for allegedly disrespecting Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar by arbitrarily cancelling an event attended by the Governor held at the Senate Hall of the university on June 25. 

Anil Kumar said he had cancelled the event after he was informed that the event's organisers had installed religious emblems in the Senate Hall and that various students' organisations were agitated by the turn of events.

The organisers (Sree Padmanabha Sewa Samithi) did not entertain his request to remove the image. When protests outside the venue threatened to spiral out of control, the Registrar said he ordered the cancellation of the event. However, his order was ignored and amid the chaos outside, the Governor arrived, inaugurated the event and paid floral tributes to the Bharat Mata image placed on the dais. 

The VC, in turn, argued that the Registrar, in his explanation, could not establish that there were religious emblems at the venue.