Another Guv-Govt showdown over VC appointments looms

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has named its representatives for the search committee for selecting the VCs in universities after the Governor made a request as per the existing procedure. Photo: Manorama.

Thiruvananthapuram: Despite the recent bonhomie between Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the Pinarayi Vijayan Government it is too early to say that they will return to their old fractious ways. Another showdown between the Governor and the State Government is likely over the appointment of Vice Chancellors (VCs) to three universities.  

The Governor has set in motion the process to appoint VCs to Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University, Mahatma Gandhi (MG) University and Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). The University Grants Commission (UGC) has named its representatives for the search committee for selecting the VCs in these universities after the Governor made a request as per the existing procedure.

The UGC nominees 
Prof Battu Satyanarayana who is the VC of the Karnataka Central University is the UGC nominee on the VC search panel for Malayalam University. KRS Sambasiva Rao, the former VC of Mizoram University, is the nominee for MG university and  Prof E Suresh Kumar, the VC of the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, is the UGC representative for shortlisting the new Cusat VC. 

With UGC representatives having been nominated for the three panels, the Governor, in his capacity as the Chancellor, can go ahead with forming the search committee after including his own nominee.

As reported earlier, the Governor has not replied to a letter sent by the Kerala Government requesting to nominate a person to the five-member search committee for selecting the VC of the Malayalam University.

The government's action is based on the University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which has not been signed by the Governor yet.

The letter from the Government says the Committee will include nominees from the UGC, the Government, the Higher Education Council and the University Syndicate, besides the Governor’s nominee.

But it is quite baffling why the government approached, under the existing law, it is the Governor, as the appointing authority, who should constitute the search committee comprising three members.

The Governor’s stand is that the government’s decision to form a five-member search committee is based on a non-existent law and that it is his responsibility to form the three-member search committee. 

The Governor has claimed that he is empowered in his capacity as the ex-officio Chancellor of the universities to form the search committee for selecting the VC of Malayalam University, pointing to the UGC guidelines of 2018.

Govt response crucial
The Governor’s hurried action in getting the UGC to nominate its representatives could be in response to the government’s move to form a search committee for appointment of VCs under the University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2022, that has not been signed by him. The government’s next move could decide if there wil be more acrimony over university affairs. 

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