Thiruvananthapuram: The University Of Kerala summarily dismissed Governor's proposal to grant D.Litt degree to President of India Ram Nath Kovind.
It has come to light that Vice-Chancellor Dr VP Mahadevan Pillai had informed Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who is also the Chancellor of the University, about the rejection of the latter's proposal through a handwritten letter bearing the following content:
"Last week, I had a meeting with you. After coming back, I discussed it with many of the Syndicate members. The Syndicate members rejected it.
Yours faithfully,
The Vice-Chancellor."
Governor's response
The letter was handed over by the Vice-Chancellor directly to the Chancellor at Raj Bhavan so as to keep the secrecy of the letter.
It was on December 7 that the VC of the Kerala University gave the letter to the Governor.
An infuriated Governor then sent a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan the next day itself, saying that he is relinquishing the post of Chancellor.
As per the existing rules in the University Of Kerala, any proposal for awarding a D.Litt degree should be either accepted or rejected by the meeting of the University Syndicate. But the VC gave it in writing to the Chancellor that he discussed the issue with the Syndicate members and they, in turn, rejected the proposal.
All members of the Kerala University Syndicate except one person belonged to the ruling Left Democratic Front and apparently the rejection followed the advice of the political leadership.
What provoked the Chancellor was the action of the university in rejecting his proposal without even following the basic norms of the varsity and the attitude of not showing enough respect to the President of India.
