A.V. George, Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, who has found himself in the vortex of a storm following allegations of filing false information before the selection committee about his appointment, has got a breather, with the Governor postponing the date fixed for the hearing she had ordered.
In a letter received by the university on Tuesday, the Governor’s office informed that the date fixed for further hearing on April 24 stands postponed. No new date has been mentioned.
The situation had turned for the worse for the Vice Chancellor on Monday following an adverse response from the apex court where he had prayed against the Chancellor holding a hearing on the issue.
The relations between the Vice Chancellor and the Higher Education Department had turned hostile after a personal antagonism between the Vice Chancellor and his subordinate officer Registrar M.R. Unni turned ugly.
Syndicate members, mostly belonging to the ‘A’ faction of the Congress, sided with Mr. Unni and the Vice Chancellor succeeded in roping in the majority of the Syndicate members. This had resulted in Mr. Unni going on suspension.
Soon the Higher Education Department pointed out that the Vice Chancellor had created and re-designated posts without sanction from the government. Dr. George extended an olive branch, withdrawing the creation of posts and, later, the re-designation of two posts.
However, an inquiry by the then Additional Chief Secretary K.M. Abraham had found that Dr. George had misrepresented his official designation he had held with the Central University in his resume. The report had recommended that Dr. George’s appointment be made null and void. Following the submission of the report to the then Governor Nikhil Kumar, the Vice Chancellor was called to depose before him.
Though the Governor had held the hearing, he had not taken any action. With the arrival of Sheila Dikshit as the new Governor, things once again got going.
Meanwhile, with the nomination of two Syndicate members for filling the vacancies last month, the equilibrium in the Syndicate also stands altered.
The Governor had called for further hearing on April 4. The Vice Chancellor approached the apex court against the move but was overruled. It was against this backdrop that the postponement has received special attention.
