THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The senate of Kerala University has passed a resolution against governor Arif Mohammed Khan for allegedly forming a search committee unilaterally in the appointment of VC. The resolution pointed out that the governor constituted a search committee to select the vice-chancellor without including the university representative as undemocratic.

The resolution also states that the appointment of the committee should be withdrawn. It is a rare sight for the senate to pass a resolution against the governor. Action is likely to be taken against Vice Chancellor Dr VP Mahadevan Pillai who allowed the motion against the Governor to be passed in the senate meeting. The governor can suspend or fire the VC after investigation.

The term of Kerala University VC ends in October. As per the current law, the VC appointment panel is to be submitted to the governor by a committee consisting of governor's nominee, university nominee and UGC nominee. One of these will be appointed by the governor as the Vice-Chancellor.

As the university was late in giving the name of the nominee, the governor himself issued an order forming a search committee. The governor constituted a three-member committee comprising representatives of the chancellor and the UGC.

Director of IIM Kozhikode Dr Debashish Chatterjee is the representative of the governor. Karnataka Central University VC Dr. Batu Satyanarayana is the representative of UGC. The governor's office issued the search committee notification, stipulating that the name of the university senate representative would be included in the committee as soon as it became available.

At the same time, the governor came out criticizing the appointment of relatives in universities. Universities are not to hire relatives and all recruitment of relatives in universities will be investigated. The governor criticized the VC for trying to please the power centres.

The governor also criticized the appointment of Kerala University VC. "No one should interfere with my duties. Appointments during the last three years will be probed. The nepotism of the ruling party will be examined separately", he said.