Kerala HC offers relief to VCs, says can hold office till Governor passes final order

The Kerala High Court on Monday, October 24, granted relief to nine Vice Chancellors of Universities in Kerala holding that they could continue in their positions till a final order is passed by the Governor, who is the Chancellor.  In a special sitting held on Monday, the HC expressed reservations regarding the Governor's communication issued on Sunday which asked the VCs to submit resignations by 11.30 am on October 24. 

A single bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran heard the petition. The court noted that the Governor, acting as Chancellor, issued show-cause notices to the petitioners on Monday and that implies that the relevance of the directions issued by the Governor on Sunday is lost and that the VCs are still in service, reported Livelaw.

Kerala Governor on Monday issued notices to Vice Chancellors concerned to show cause by 5 pm on or before November 3, their legal right to continue in office. The notices have been sent to official email IDs of Vice Chancellors and Registrars, said a tweet from the official handle of the Governor. 

It was on Sunday, October 23, that the Governor directed the VCs of nine universities to resign by Monday, citing observations made by the Supreme Court, while cancelling the appointment of Rajasree MS, the Vice Chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University. The SC had said that the search committee had recommended only one name for the post and not three names as mandated by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Using this argument, Governor Arif issued directions to six VCs of different universities in the state, including Professor Gopinath Ravindran of Kannur University with whom he has for long had issues, to resign. Three others VCs were asked to resign as the search committee had non-academic members. 

The move by the governor was seen as another step in the long ongoing stand-off with the state government, which began from the year he took charge, in 2019. 

The Governor had called a press conference on Monday noon, but denied entry to several media organisations, calling them "cadres of the state government". Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on Monday morning, spoke out against the governor, saying that he had no powers to ask for the resignation of the vice-chancellors. CM Pinarayi also accused him of acting against the Constitution.