Governor to examine appointments of four Vice Chancellors

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Governor, Arif Mohammad Khan, will examine the appointment procedures of four Vice Chancellors after the Supreme Court canceled the appointment of VC to Technological University. He had ordered the Raj Bhavan officials to collect the recommendations of the Search Committee in the appointment of VCs to Kannur, Fisheries, MG, and Sanskrit Universities.

The documents on the information about the members of the Search Committee, the notification for the VC appointment, the applications received, information about the interviews, marks given, etc. will be summoned from the higher education department.

Governor is checking if qualified persons were overlooked. Yesterday, he made it clear that the Chancellor has the authority over University matters. As the Supreme Court’s order is effective for all the universities in the country, the Governor will send notices to the four Vice Chancellors. He will proceed after summoning the Vice Chancellors for a hearing.

The Governor will reach Raj Bhavan today afternoon from Kochi.

Meanwhile, documents have surfaced showing that the Search Committee gave only one name for the appointment of Vice Chancellor to Kannur University in 2017. According to UGC norms, no one should be on the Search Committee who is related to the University or its affiliated colleges. In addition, three to five names must be given by the Search Committee.

These stipulations were not followed by the Search Committee in appointing the VC to Kannur University. There are similar irregularities in other universities too.