Kochi: Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, also the Chancellor of Kerala University, raised severe allegations against the varsity’s senate during a hearing in the High Court on Wednesday. According to Khan, the senate has launched a proxy war against him on the issue of appointing a new vice-chancellor (VC) for the university.
The Governor told the court that if the senate had recommended its nominee to the search committee for appointing the VC, he would have issued a fresh notification. However, the expelled members of the senate targeted him. This forced him to withdraw his pleasure, said Khan.
A bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran, while hearing the pleas filed by the expelled senate members, observed that the pleasure should be exercised only as per the law and not based on the Chancellor’s personal preferences. The court, however, explained that it did not suggest that the Chancellor had acted with ulterior motives.
After concluding the hearing, the case was posted to another day by the court for delivering the judgment.
The expelled senate members had approached the court demanding to quash the Chancellor’s order. They argued that the order was illegal. Their petition had also questioned the Chancellor’s authority to appoint a two-member search committee for a new VC.
Meanwhile, during a hearing on another petition seeking to speed up the VC appointment process, the court directed the senate to suggest its nominee to the search panel.
During this hearing, the court asked the senate why it was adamant about opposing the notification issued by the Chancellor constituting a search committee for VC. It was a minor matter which could be solved by recommending a member to the search panel, observed the court.