• Source:JND
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THE TURMOIL between the Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and LDF-led CPI(M) government in the state worsened on Wednesday with the government's decision to bring an ordinance to remove the Governor from the post of Chancellor of state universities. The State Cabinet is planning to bring in an expert academician in place of the Chancellor. The row between the Governor and the state government has been going on for a while now with the Governor alleging irregularities in the functioning of the universities and the appointment of vice-chancellors in the state-run universities.

The decision came after Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, earlier last month sought the resignations of vice-chancellors of all nine universities in the state. As per an order issued by the Kerala Governor - Vice-Chancellors of all nine state-run universities have been asked to resign from their posts. Later the VCs of nine universities moved the High Court challenging the Governor's order to tender their resignations.

Here's how the controversy unfolded:

The issue snowballed into a major controversy after Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan in December last year wrote a letter stating that he wants to step down as the Chancellor of the state universities and alleged that he has been pressured by the state government to appoint vice-chancellors in violation of the UGC norms. The letter by the Governor triggered a war of words between him and the state government.

The Governor in August this year then opposed the appointment of the CPIM leader's wife as an Assistant Professor in Kannur University’s Department of Malayalam alleging that she didn't have the necessary qualifications for the said appointment. Further in October, Arif Mohammad Khan, in his capacity as the Chancellor, asked VCs of all nine universities to step down and claimed that rules were violated during their appointments.

According to a report by The Print, Arif Mohammad Khan, in his letter to VCs, alleged that they were not eligible to continue on their posts. He, as stated in the report, cited that the VCs are "either appointed from single-name panels or recommended by the search/ selection committee with non-academician as member". Khan also served them with a show cause notice seeking a response on their legal right to continue with their jobs.

However, the VCs refused to resign and moved Kerala High Court to challenge Khan's notice. The Kerala HC then granted them relief and ordered that the VCs can continue with their jobs till the Governor issued a final notice based on responses. Earlier last week, Arif Mohammad Khan appointed Ciza Thomas as VC of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and defended his decision by citing a Supreme Court ruling.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan government had requested the High Court to stay the appointment that was ordered by Kerala Governor Arif Muhammad Khan, chancellor of the state universities. However, the court on Tuesday declined to stay the appointment.

The governor's actions irked the state government which accused Khan of acting as a tool of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The state government even passed the University Laws (Amendment) Bill 2022 in September limiting the powers of the Governor as the chancellor of the universities.

The Bill, which envisages bringing some major amendments to the original Act, will change the number of members and the structure of the search-cum-selection committee that picks the VC candidates, virtually limiting the upper hand of the Governor and the union government in their appointment. The maximum age limit for a person to be appointed as vice chancellor has been raised to 65 from 60 years as per the new bill.

However, the Governor's ascent to the bill is still awaited. When the bill was passed in the Kerala Legislative Assembly, Khan said that he will not allow the bill and alleged that it seeks to legalise illegalities and pave the way for the appointment of "unqualified relatives" of staff of the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues.

"I cannot allow a mechanism to be adopted whereby it can be used to appoint unqualified and underqualified relatives of those in power, relatives of the personal staff of the Chief Minister and other ministers, on the rolls of the universities," Khan had said, as quoted by PTI.