THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday vehemently opposed the Governor's move to sack ten vice-chancellors. The Chief Minister said that all the VCs are academically excellent in every way and have proved their ability even abroad.

"The VCs were not appointed on a political basis. The Chancellor has exercised his power with the appointment of VC. Now, action against the Vice Chancellors can be taken only under the University Act. No complaints, such as financial irregularities or misbehaviour, have been raised against the VCs. When the search committee finds that 9 out of 10 applicants are ineligible and gives one name for VC appointment, insisting on a three-member panel will result only in including more ineligible candidates. Then why the search committee? It was not the LDF government that started giving single names. the UDF has also done these things," the CM said.

"The Governor says that the Chief Secretary, who is a member of the search committee, is not an academic expert. But isn't an expert in public administration, a branch of study, an expert? The state and the Centre can make laws in the field of education, which is in the Concurrent List. No one has the power to violate any state law which is not inconsistent with the central law. The Chancellor does not have the constitutional powers of the Governor. He only has powers under the University Act. The Governor himself need not necessarily be the Chancellor. There are universities where the Governor is not the Chancellor. The Justice Punchhi Commission report said that such unconstitutional duties should not be given to the Governor. Kerala did not stop the governor from being the chancellor because of its hope that the person holding the constitutional position would not act in a non-democratic way," he added.

The Chief Minister said that the Governor is attempting to destroy the autonomy of the universities and drain the democracy on the campuses and thereby creating an environment for central intervention. " The Governor has a vested interest in matters related to the universities. An attempt is being made to turn the universities into a haven for Sangh Pariwar and pave way for the saffronisation of the universities," he said.