Kerala HC Cancels Appointment Of University Vice-Chancellor Amid Clash Between Govt And Governor

The HC didn't accept the government's plea to stay the order.

In a setback for CM Pinarayi Vijayan, the Kerala High Court has cancelled the appointment of the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) Vice-Chancellor Dr Riji John. With this, the period from the date of appointment shall be void. Dr Riji was appointed as Vice-Chancellor of KUFOS on January 23, 2021. The HC didn't accept the government's plea to stay the order.

In a tweet, news agency ANI said, "Kerala High Court cancels the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor of Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) Dr Riji John. With this, the period from the date of appointment shall be void. The High Court did not accept the government's plea to stay the order."

The High Court also instructed the Chancellor to form a new search committee, and made it clear that the appointment of VC must comply with UGC regulations. This came from the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar & Justice Shaji P Chaly on the petition by Dr KK Vijayan & Dr Sadasivan, said a report in ANI.

John was appointed as the new V-C in December last year, after a three-member search committee recommended his name. Soon after, another aspirant for the post K.K.Vijayan approached the High Court challenging his appointment stating that all mandatory norms were overlooked.

Last month, the Supreme Court set aside the appointment of the Vice Chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, located in the state capital city. A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar had found that the search committee formed to pick up the V-C was not properly constituted and that only a single name was sent to the Governor as against a list of names required as per the UGC regulations.

Latching on to it, Khan asked the Vice-Chancellors of ten various Universities, including John, to reply why action should not be taken against them.

After the 10 V-Cs approached the High Court, it asked Khan not to take any action till the petition filed by Vice Chancellors against the show cause notice gets disposed of. The case has now been posted for November 17.

But, now with the division bench disposing of a petition filed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, John will now have to step down.

With Monday's decision, Khan is in all smiles as he has always been critical of the way things are happening under Vijayan.

Vijayan, in his petition, had stated that the search committee had no academic expert and after screening 17 aspirants shortlisted nine. John was ninth on the list. When it submitted its recommendation to Khan, only John's name was there.

(With IANS inputs)