THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With CUSAT VC Dr KN Madhusoodhanan completing his tenure on Monday, the state will have seven universities without permanent vice-chancellors. MG VC Prof. Sabu Thomas will retire next month. The non-formation of a search committee due to the dispute between the governor and the government has hindered the appointment of the VC.

The appointment of the VC was in crisis when the government and the governor tried to form search committees on their own. The High Court had quashed the search committee formed by the Governor in Kerala University without a senate representative. The position of the Higher Education Department is that the Governor only has the power to appoint the VC, while the government is in charge of inviting applications and forming the panel. The governor is defending this by citing the Supreme Court order that the government should not interfere in the appointment of VC.

The Governor is claiming that the chancellor has the power to form the search committee. On the other hand, the government is claiming that there is a High Court order which states that the Governor has no power to form the committee. As senate representation is mandatory on committees as per university law, the Governor's search committees will not exist without it. The Senate, on the other hand, is unwilling to provide a representative.

Governor not ready to meet VCs

Although CUSAT VC Dr KN Madhusoodhanan, MG VC Prof Sabu Thomas and CUSAT PVC Dr PG Shankaran sought permission for a meeting several times, the governor did not give permission for it. The Governor, who had found irregularities in the appointment of CUSAT and MG VCs, had issued notices to them seeking reasons not to fire them. He has received a panel of senior professors to hand over the charge of Cusat VC.