Published Mar 22, 2024 | 11:04 AM ⚊ Updated Mar 22, 2024 | 11:04 AM
Kerala High Court. (Creative Commons)
The Kerala High Court on Thursday, 21 March, stayed the Chancellor’s order removing MK Jayaraj as the Vice Chancellor of the Calicut University.
The High Court however refused to interfere in the removal of MV Narayanan, Vice Chancellor of the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit.
Justice Mohammed Nias CP issued orders on the pleas against the decision of Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan in his capacity as the Chancellor of the state varsities.
Khan had on 7 March, directed the Vice-Chancellors of the University of Calicut and Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit to vacate their posts.
After the HC orders, Khan later in the day appointed Dr KK Geethakumari, a Sanskrit Professor, as its Vice-Chancellor.
“Dr KK Geethakumari, Professor, Department of Sanskrit, University of Calicut shall exercise the powers and perform the duties of the Vice Chancellor, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit with immediate effect in addition to her normal duties until further orders,” the Raj Bhavan in Kochi said in a notification.
The two VCs were asked to vacate their posts as their appointments were allegedly found to be in violation of the regulations of the University Grants Commission (UGC), official sources had said.
Hence, their appointments have been treated as “void ab initio” in light of the Supreme Court judgments on the issue of the appointment of VCs, the source had added.
The Kerala High Court had in January this year asked the Chancellor to give a hearing to the VCs within six weeks and directed that any decision taken subsequently not be implemented for 10 days.
That HC order was on the pleas moved by several VCs who were issued show cause notices by the governor asking why they should not be removed from their posts as their appointments were allegedly in violation of the UGC norms.
The show cause notices were issued following the Supreme Court’s October 2022 decision quashing the appointment of the VC of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University on the ground that it was contrary to UGC regulations.
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