Palakkad: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan described Governor Arif Mohammad Khan's diktat asking nine vice-chancellors to tender their resignation as “unconstitutional” and called the move an “arbitrary use of powers that he simply does not possess”.
He said the Governor's call for the resignation was also a misinterpretation of the Supreme Court's verdict annulling the appointment of the VC of A P J Abdul Kalam Technological University. “The verdict was only for the Technological University. By no stretch of the imagination could that verdict be applied to other universities,” the Chief Minister told reporters on Monday.
Governor Khan had ordered the resignations of the nine VCs on the basis of the Supreme Court's October 21 order against the appointment of the Technological University VC.
Final word not out
Moreover, he said the legal issue surrounding the appointment of the tech varsity VC had not yet been settled. “We are gearing up to move a revision petition. Also, unlike the High Court, the Supreme Court did not question the academic credentials of the VC but merely pointed out certain issues in the selection process. The Governor has now used this technicality to destabilize Kerala's Higher Education sector,” the Chief Minister said.
He also hinted that the selection process followed in the tech varsity VC appointment did not violate any rules nor were extraordinary. The Supreme Court had in its October 21 order pointed out that the presence of a nominee of the Higher Education Council in the VC search committee was a contravention of the UGC Regulations, a central act. It also found fault with the search committee submitting just one name to the Chancellor.
“The number of members in a VC search committee and the names they eventually submit before the Chancellor depend on the statute of each university. This is so for the entire country,” Vijayan said.
He said that in many states, government nominees were part of the search committee. In Maharashtra, for instance, a member of the Higher Education Department is part of the search committee. In Karnataka, the four-member search committee to scout for the right VC candidates for its universities is appointed by the government. In certain search committees, the Chief Minister said that the judges of the Supreme Court and high courts or their nominees find a place. In some others, representatives of the senate or the syndicate or the UGC or the state government or the executive council or the academic council will also be included. In Gujarat, he said a nominee of the VC is a member.
“So each University functions with a unique set of laws,” the Chief Minister said.
Stay put, VCs told
The Chief Minister also told the VCs to remain defiant, and asked them to ignore the Governor's direction. “There is no need for the VCs to obey an illegal order,” he said. “This is a land where the rule of law prevails. Things will happen only according to the law,” he added. Further, he said that all VCs appointed during the LDF tenure were brilliant academics and said the universities were thriving under them.
The Chief Minister said even basic justice was denied to the VCs. “Even when disciplinary action is taken against a low-level officer, he will be first asked for an explanation. Don't the VCs, too, deserve such fairness,” he said.
He said a VC could be removed only on two grounds: financial misappropriation and misbehavior. “Even when there are such allegations, a senior Supreme Court or High Court judge should conduct an enquiry into the charges. Only if the charges are proved can the VC be removed,” the Chief Minister said.
Meanwhile, six VCs, except for those of MG University, KUFOS and KTU, have replied to the Governor as per latest reports and said that they will proceed after taking legal advice.
CM ridicules Governor
During his press briefing, the Chief Minister did something worse than launching a frontal attack on the Governor. He ridiculed Khan. He called Khan a “tool” of the Sangh Parivar and advised him not to make himself a laughing stock. Vijayan likened Khan to a lizard that thinks that it is holding the roof from falling down.
The Chief Minister said the VCs were appointed with the approval of the Governor. “If these appointments were against rules, then the primary responsibility for making these appointments lies with the Chancellor, the appointing authority,” he said and added: “If the Governor's own logic is applied, should I spell out who should first take a bow and move out.”
He also made fun of the Governor's remarks that he would withdraw his pleasure in the ministers. “The Governor has no right to dismiss or appoint ministers. That is a power vested with the Chief Minister. But later the Governor took back his word and said the ministers can continue even if he withdraws his pleasure. He doesn't even understand the concept of 'pleasure',” the Chief Minister said.
He sounded amused when he said the Governor had asked the State Police Chief to make the necessary security arrangements to ensure the smooth resignation of the VCs. “It does not come under his purview. He has no business interfering in state government business,” he said.
Vijayan was at his sarcastic best when he referred to Khan calling his ministers “ignorant”. “No one has given the Governor the power to assess the general knowledge of the ministers. But his capacity for insulting others is limitless. He had once severely criticized the language of a scientific university VC, called another VC a criminal and a nationally renowned academician a goonda. So anything that comes out of him is not surprising. But still, what do we call him? A great man?” he said.
Beware, Governor told
The Chief Minister then served the Governor a warning. “Please don't think that you can appropriate powers that you don't have.” He also said that at the moment the government was not planning to petition the President to recall the Governor. “But this is a democratic country. There will be protests. He will have to face it,” he said.