1.13 crore spent by VCs to proceed with case against Governor: Allegation that university funds were used illegally

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Vice-Chancellors used university funds to file a case in the Supreme Court and the High Court against the Governor's decision to cancel the appointments of the same VCs.

The rule is that if the court proceedings of government officials are on their own, the court costs shall be borne by the officials themselves. This action is contrary to that. The amount was spent from the university fund for the court proceedings against the Governor against the order of the Chancellor who is the Governor himself.

Higher Education Minister Dr R Bindu informed the Assembly that Rs 1.13 crore was spent by the then VCs from the funds of various universities. The minister informed this in response to a question by Eldhose Kunnappilly.

Kannur VC and KUFOS VC had specially assigned senior advocate KK Venugopal to present their arguments in the Supreme Court. The Calicut VC spent Rs 4.25 lakhs on seeking the services of a senior advocate, bypassing the university's standing counsel in the High Court.

Kannur University has spent Rs 8 lakh for court expenses in the appointment of Priya Varghese, wife of Chief Minister's Private Secretary KK Ragesh. Kannur University spent Rs 6.5 lakhs for excluding the university counsel and appointing senior advocate P Ravindran when the High Court heard Priya Varghese's petition.

Amount spent by Vice-Chancellors

Dr. Gopinath Ravindran (Kannur).................. Rs.69,25,340

Dr Riji John (KUFOS)...................................... Rs.35,71,311

Dr MS Rajshree (Techno.)...............................Rs.1,47,515

Dr MK Jayaraj (Calicut)...................................Rs.4,25,000

Dr KN Madhusudhanan (CUSAT).................. Rs.77,500

Dr V Anilkumar (Malayalam)...........................Rs.1,00,000

Dr Mubarak Pasha (Sree Narayana Guru).... Rs. 53,000

Complaint to the Governor to recover the amount

The Save University Campaign Committee has lodged a complaint with the Governor and the Chief Minister seeking recovery of the amount spent from the university fund for court cases from the VCs and syndicate members.