The courtroom order is a setback for the Pinarayi Vijayan authorities. File
Thiruvananthapuram:
The Kerala Excessive Courtroom at present cancelled the state authorities’s appointment of a vice-chancellor at a state college — a big setback for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan amid his authorities’s ongoing spat with Governor Arif Mohammad Khan over the functioning of universities.
The excessive courtroom struck down the appointment of Dr Riji John as vice-chancellor of Kerala College of Fisheries and Ocean Research. The courtroom termed the appointment unlawful, saying that tips laid down by the College Grants Fee (UGC) had been violated within the course of. The UGC is a statutory physique beneath the Training Ministry that oversees the functioning of upper training establishments throughout the nation.
The courtroom directed the Chancellor of universities, a publish at present held by Governor Khan, to nominate a brand new vice-chancellor consistent with UGC tips. The transfer comes after the Governor final month requested vice-chancellors of 9 universities, together with Dr John, to step down, flagging alleged violation of UGC norms of their appointments.
The Governor’s transfer got here after a Supreme Courtroom order cancelled the appointment of the vice-chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological College in Kerala.
The courtroom stated that as per UGC guidelines, a search committee constituted by the state authorities ought to advocate three names to the Governor for the college prime publish. Within the case of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological College, nonetheless, just one identify was really helpful.
Quickly after, Governor Khan directed vice-chancellors of 9 state universities to step down. This triggered a face-off between the state authorities and the Governor over the functioning of universities in Kerala.
Earlier this month, the state cupboard voted to usher in an ordinance or particular order to take away the Governor as Chancellor of universities.
Rajeeve, Kerala legislation minister, then stated they weren’t making an attempt to curtail the powers of the Governor. “We’ve got no powers to curtail powers of Governor. it’s a constitutional authority, whose features are effectively defined within the Structure. What we’ve got finished is we’ve got adopted an ordinance on appointment of chancellor. That’s the prerogative, legislative competency of state legislature. We really feel the Chancellor needs to be an eminent particular person from the training discipline.”