Governor receives legal advice, declares suspended Veterinary University Vice-Chancellor's appointment as void

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Monday received legal advice that the appointment of former Veterinary University Vice-Chancellor Dr M.R. Saseendranath had certain irregularities thus giving power to the Raj Bhavan to make the appointment invalid. Dr M.R. Saseendranath was earlier suspended by the governor following the shocking death of a student at Pookode University.

The Governor may immediately issue a notice to Dr M.R. Saseendranath asking for an explanation to not expel him after the appointment has been found invalid. There was no UGC representative in the search committee for the appointment of Dr MR Saseendranath. Saseendranath was appointed by the then Governor P. Sadasivam in July 2019.

As per UGC rules, the search committee must have a UGC representative. Instead, the director of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute was on the committee. The Chancellor's representative in the committee was Agriculture Varsity V.C. The UGC rule strictly denies any person related to the university to be included in the committee.

The High Court had earlier sacked Fisheries Vice-Chancellor Riji John, who had been selected by a search committee that had a representative of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) instead of a UGC representative.

Dr MS Rajashree, who was the VC of the Technical University, was expelled by the Supreme Court as there was no UGC representative in the search committee while the Chief Secretary was included in the committee. Saseendranath was made V.C. when he was the Director of the Academic and Research Department at the Veterinary University. He is a native of Arimpur, Thrissur.