Kochi: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has directed nine Vice Chancellors to resign by Monday morning. The Chancellor directed the VCs to tender their resignations by 11 am, media reports said.
Kerala Vice Chancellor V P Mahadevan Pillai has also been directed to tender resignation even as his term is ending on Monday. The VCs who have been asked to quit belong to MG University, Kottayam, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kannur University, Kerala university of Fisheries and Ocean Studies , APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Sree Sankaracharya Sanskrit University, Calicut University, Thunjath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University and Kerala University.
The decision of the Governor comes amidst the Supreme Court canceling the appointment of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University Vice Chancellor for violating UGC norms. Save University Campaign Committee submitting a letter to the Governor seeking action against certain VCs.
The appointment of VCs in the universities in the state was controlled by the state governments for a long time. The LDF government alleged that Arif Mohammad Khan was appointed by the BJP-led government at the centre due to which he was biased against the state government.
Khan had differences with the government from the beginning and it reached the flash point with the problems in the appointment of Kerala Chief Minister’s Private secretary’s wife Priya Varghese in Kannur University.
Priya, who was in the rock bottom of the list prepared on the basis of her research score and experience, was placed at the top after the interview. The government had. recently passed a law making it more powerful to deal with university affairs in the state.
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