Thiruvanathapuram: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who is also the Chancellor of the universities in the state, would conduct a hearing for the Vice Chancellors who have been served show cause notices.
The VCs or their advocates will attend the hearing at Raj Bhavan on Monday. Kannur University VC Gopinath Raveendran has said that he will not be able to attend the hearing
The Governor, however, said he would wait for the court verdict to take a final decision on the show-cause notices.
Khan had asked nine state university Vice Chancellors to appear at the Raj Bhavan for a hearing on December 12. He summoned the VCs who submitted a response to the notice he issued in October. Khan had asked the Vice Chancellors of 11 Universities to tender their resignation after the Supreme Court quashed the appointment of KTU VC Rajashree.
When they failed to respond, he issued a show cause notice asking why they should be allowed to continue in their posts.
Last month, 9 out of 11 VCs had submitted a response to the show cause notice. The Vice Chancellors had argued that their appointment was in line with UGC norms.
Khan said that the guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC) are intended to ensure uniformity of standards in the higher education sector in all states.
Referring to the situation in Bengal, he pointed out the Supreme Court had ruled that the state government enjoyed no powers to appoint vice-chancellors. “Then, how can the state choose the chancellor?” Khan asked.
Regarding the developments in Kerala, the Governor alleged that the only aim of the ruling party CPM was to plant people close to it as vice-chancellors. “The High Court has never found fault with the Chancellor,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, Kerala High Court on Thursday asked the Kerala University Senate to nominate a member within a month to the search committee for the appointment of vice-chancellor (VC).
Justice Devan Ramachandran issued the order on a petition filed by senate member S Jayaram seeking a direction to the Chancellor to dissolve the senate if the university governing body fails to nominate a member to the search panel.
