Kerala University Vice Chancellor Dr Mohanan Kunnummal’s moves to functionally immobilise Registrar K S Anil Kumar seem to be thwarted by the huge political and administrative pressure the Left-heavy Syndicate can bring to bear on the top officers and staff of Kerala University.
On July 10, for instance, the VC instructed the security personnel to prevent Anil Kumar from entering the Registrar’s office. The diktat went unheeded. Today, Mini Dejo Kappen, the University’s Planning and Development director, whom the VC had appointed as the ‘stand-in registrar’, expressed her unwillingness to take up the additional role in a letter to the VC.
Top University sources said that Mini Kappen had received legal advice against taking up the post. “Under the Act, the Registrar is appointed by the Syndicate, not the VC. She was told that she could tie herself up in a legal knot,” the source said.
However, sources close to Mini Kappen said that certain Syndicate members, too, had served her a stern message. “They reminded her of the statute and told her that no one, let alone senior officers like her, can claim ignorance of the law. She was also told that Dr Kunnummal was merely a stop-gap arrangement (he is acting VC) and that once he left he would leave her in the lurch and that she could not expect any help from the Syndicate,” the source said. Save University Campaign leader R S Sasikumar termed this “rowdyism”.
Mini Kappen did function as the registrar by forwarding some files to the VC for his final approval on Friday. A Syndicate member Onmanorama spoke to said that most of these related to her Planning and Development Department. “No new files are going to the VC as it requires the Syndicate’s sanction first,” the member said.
At the same time, the VC refused to touch any of the files sent by the Registrar on the grounds that Anil Kumar was in suspension.
The VC can continue to ignore the Registrar, but with the Syndicate determined to stonewall him, it would be increasingly difficult for Dr Kunnummal to find enough officers in the University to run the University administration according to his wishes.
Under the Kerala University Act, the Syndicate is the “Chief Executive body of the University”, and is armed with sweeping executive powers including the general superintendence and control over the institutions of the University.
It is the Syndicate that appoints teachers and other employees of the University and prescribes their duties. It can suspend, discharge, dismiss or take any disciplinary action against teachers and other employees.
It is in the Syndicate that the power has been vested to make ordinances on a range of issues from fees and discipline of students to the workload of teachers and scales of pay of various University officers. It also appoints members to the Boards of Studies. It conducts the University examinations, approves the panel of examiners, and fixes their remuneration.
The VC is also part of the Syndicate, but a majority vote makes decisions. The existing 17-member Syndicate is dominated by the nominees of the ruling LDF government, and the VC stands no chance. The VC, without doubt, is the most powerful ‘officer’ of the University, but the Syndicate, as a collective, has greater authority than the VC.