Savvy Thakur
Published on: October 26, 2022 at 19:51 IST
The Kerala High Court granted relief to eight Vice Chancellors of Universities in Kerala during a special sitting on Monday. The Vice Chancellor of Universities, the Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammed Khan, had asked them to resign on October 24.
Based on the show-cause notice that the Chancellor sent to them today, the Court decided that all of them could continue in their positions until a final order is issued against them.
As a result, in a judgment dated October 24, 2022, the Court reversed the Chancellor’s communications requesting resignations from university vice presidents.
The Court expressed reservations regarding the communication sent on October 23 by the Governor, in which the VCs were instructed to resign on October 24 by 11 a.m.
The Court stated that “no one can be fired.”
A single bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran noted in the order that it does not require a great deal of judgments to say that no one can be asked to tender resignation.
“The fact that the Chancellor sent show-cause notices to the petitioners today was noted by the bench. This indicates that the Vice Chancellors are still employed and that the Governor’s instructions are no longer relevant.”
The Court also wondered how the Governor could have stated that the Vice Chancellors would resign on October 21 if he believed their appointments were invalid from the start.
The Court also said that proper research and consideration should have been done, especially since the petitioners had specific cases to back up their factual scenarios.
The Court has left open all of the parties’ arguments, including the one that the Governor does not have the authority to start the action.
Background
On October 23, the Governor, the Universities’ Chancellor, instructed the nine Vice Chancellors to resign by 11:30 a.m. on October 24 on the grounds that their appointments were illegal.
The Governor cited the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Dr. MS Rajashree’s appointment as Vice Chancellor of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University on the grounds that the Search Committee only submitted one candidate to the Chancellor, rather than a panel of three to five candidates.
The Governor stated, citing the preceding decision, that the search committee’s illegal formation would render the VC’s appointment null and void.
The Vice Chancellors who were given show-cause notice:
- Dr. VP Mahadevan Pillai, University of Kerala’s Vice President for Academic Affairs
- Dr. KN Madhusoodhanan, VC of Cochin University of Science and Technology
- Dr. Sabu Thomas, VC of Mahatma Gandhi University
- Dr. K Riji John, VC of Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies
- Dr. MS Rajashree, VC of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University
- Dr. Gopinath Ravindran, VC of Kannur University
- Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit’s VC Dr. MV Narayanan
- Calicut University’s VC Dr. MK Jayaraj
- Malayalam University’s VC Dr. V Anil Kumar Thuncahthezhuthachan