THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Governor will be approaching the High Court against the government's intervention in handing over the charge of vice-chancellor of technical and digital universities. The government had sent the panels for the two universities to the Raj Bhavan. There has been no VC in both universities for two weeks. The Supreme Court order expelling Dr Gopinath Raveendran, who was the Kannur VC, prohibits the government's interference in universities. The governor will file a clarification petition on Monday in the bench of Justice Mohammad Mushtaq in the high court. The governor will demand that the government's intervention be stopped.
In the case against the governor's appointment of Ciza Thomas as the technical VC, the division bench had ordered that the governor should respect the government's opinion on the appointment of the VC. The Supreme Court order was issued later.
Though there was nothing wrong with Dr Gopinath Raveendran's reappointment, the Supreme Court quashed it citing unnecessary interference of the government. The Supreme Court had ordered that the Chancellor has independent power in the appointment of the VC. The government's argument is that this is for the appointment of permanent VC and does not apply to temporary appointments.
The government has given the panel under Section 13(7) of the Technical University Rules. Accordingly, the government can recommend that the charge of the temporary VC be given to the VC of the adjacent varsity, the technical varsity PVC or the secretary of higher education. There is no PVC in the varsity. The secretary is not accepted by the governor. Dr Mohanan Kunnummel, in-charge of Kerala University, is the adjacent VC.
Bengal's order in response to Governor