Justice Devan Ramachandran issues notice to the Chancellor and the Registrar of the university and Ms. Thomas when the petition filed by Kerala government challenging the Governor’s order came up for hearing
Justice Devan Ramachandran issues notice to the Chancellor and the Registrar of the university and Ms. Thomas when the petition filed by Kerala government challenging the Governor’s order came up for hearing
The Kerala High Court on Tuesday declined to stay the order issued by Governor Arif Mohammad Khan in his capacity as Chancellor appointing Ciza Thomas, Senior Joint Director, Directorate of Technical Education, as Vice Chancellor in-charge of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU), Thiruvananthapuram.
Justice Devan Ramachandran also issued a notice to the Chancellor and the Registrar of the university and Ms. Thomas when the petition filed by the State government challenging the order came up for hearing.
The court suo motu impleaded the University Grants Commission (UGC) as an additional respondent in the case and posted it for further hearing on November 11.
The government in its petition contended that in the event of a vacancy of Vice Chancellor, only the VC of other universities or the pro-vice chancellor of the university or the Higher Education Secretary, as recommended by the government, could be appointed as VC till a regular VC is selected. In fact, Ms. Thomas was neither the VC of any other university nor the pro-vice-chancellor of the university. Therefore, the notification issued by the Chancellor was ‘void ab initio.’
Jaju Babu, senior counsel for the Chancellor, submitted that in view of the Supreme Court verdict quashing the appointment of Rajasree M.S. as VC of the KTU, only an academician with 10 years of service as per the UGC regulations could be appointed. Ms. Thomas had been working as a professor at the College of Engineering Trivandrum for more than 10 years.
The government further contended that the university had not given any unfettered power or discretion to the Chancellor to appoint any person of his choice as VC of the university. As per Section 13 (7) of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University Act, 2015, the Chancellor could only make appointment to the post on the recommendation of the government.
The government also pointed out that in terms of Section 13 (7) of the Act, the appointment could only be made for six months. However, the notification allowed Ms. Thomas to exercise the powers and the functions of the VC until further orders. The Chancellor had appointed her after rejecting the government’s recommendation to give KTU VC’s charge to Saji Gopinath, Vice Chancellor, Digital University of Kerala.
