University of Calicut: Governor's hearing to happen today

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Governor will hold a hearing today as per the direction of the High Court on the rejection of the Nomination paper for the syndicate elections by the Registrar who is the Returning Officer, given by the two teachers nominated by the Governor for the Senate of the University of Calicut. The syndicate election process has been stayed by the governor. The court ordered the governor to take a decision within three weeks after conducting the hearing on the petitions against this.

The Governor's nominees for the Senate, Dr P Ravindran and Dr TM Vasudevan were rejected by the registrar on the ground that they did not contest and win from the university teaching constituency. Dr Vasudevan was nominated by the Governor as the Head of the Department and Dr Ravindran as the Research Institute Representative as per the varsity rules. The University Act does not deny Senate members the opportunity to contest syndicate elections. The Governor stopped the election after receiving a complaint that the rejection of the nomination paper was deliberate. University officials will attend the hearings online and the governor's nominees and lawyers will attend in person.

Will the appointment violate Election Code of Conduct: Governor

Governor Arif Muhammad Khan has asked Chief Secretary Dr V Venu to inform whether the recommendations of the government, including the appointment of three members to the Right to Information Commission, would be a violation of the Election Code of Conduct. The government had earlier recommended the appointment of Dr Sonichan P Joseph, M Sreekumar and TK Ramakrishnan.

The Governor also raised this doubt in giving the role of Acting Chairperson to K Baijunath, a judicial member of the Human Rights Commission. The government recommended that the role of the acting chairman should be handed over in case the governor did not accept the recommendation of former High Court Chief Justice Manikumar as the chairman of the commission. Baijunath was reappointed as a commissioner for three years. The chief secretary was also asked to inform whether the code of conduct would stand in the way of signing the file for the release of seven prisoners.