Tussle with Governor: Appointment of Agriculture VC may be delayed

THRISSUR: Legal ambiguities and government-governor tussle may again delay the appointment of a permanent VC in agricultural university.

Ideally, the VC should be appointed from a three-member panel prepared by the search committee. The search committee should have representatives from the Government, General Council and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). However, the meeting to decide the General Council representative was adjourned on Tuesday due to opposition from the Left members. The Left opposed the possibility of a person of interest to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan becoming the VC. They said that according to the UGC norms and the Agricultural Universities Act, the governor cannot impose conditions on universities or compel them to appoint VCs. Other universities have approached the court against this action of the governor and that it might be needed here as well, they hinted. The Governor who is also the Chancellor, had sent a letter to the university on January 29 requesting that a General Council representative be appointed to the search committee within 15 days, warning that if not, he would proceed on his own. It was on this basis that the Special General Council was formed.

There is also ambiguity as to whether one of the representatives on the search committee is from UGC or ICAR.