Kerala High Court stays Chancellor’s directive to Calicut University Vice-Chancellor to vacate post

The court, however, declines to stay the Chancellor’s order with respect to the Sanskrit University Vice-Chancellor

A view of the Kerala High Court building in Ernakulam. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Kerala High Court on March 21 stayed the order of Governor and Chancellor Arif Mohammed Khan declaring ab initio void the appointment of M.K. Jayaraj as the Vice-Chancellor of Calicut University and directing him to vacate the office forthwith.

Justice Mohammed Nias C.P. however, declined to stay the Chancellor’s order directing M.V. Narayanan, Vice-Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, to vacate the post in view of the Chancellor’s finding that his appointment was also ab initio void.

The court passed the interim orders on a writ petition filed by Dr. Jayaraj and Dr. Narayanan challenging the Chancellor’s order.

The Chancellor had passed the order against Dr. Jayaraj, as he found that the constitution of the search-cum-selection committee was not in terms of the UGC Regulations-2018.

The Chancellor based his conclusion on the fact that the search committee had the then Chief Secretary as one of the members and that the nominee of the senate, V.K. Ramachandran, had nothing to do with the field of Higher Education at the relevant time.

Dr. Jayaraj contended that the search committee consisted of persons of eminence in the sphere of higher education. It was the Chancellor who had nominated the Chief Secretary, and therefore, he could not object to the same at a later point in time.

The determination of the illegality of the appointment could not be made by any administrative authorities. It was the Chancellor who selected him from among the panel of names, and, therefore, the Chancellor could not sit in over on the correctness of the selection process, he contended.

The court observed that the then Chief Secretary was included in the committee in his capacity as Chief Secretary, but if he is even otherwise a person of eminence in the sphere of Higher Education, then prima facie, his inclusion cannot be seen as violative of the relevant UGC regulations.

The finding by the Chancellor that Dr Ramachandran was working as the Vice-Chairman of the Kerala State Planning Board, and his occupation at the relevant time had nothing to do with the field of Higher Education, appears to be unsustainable.

Refusing the plea for a stay made by Mr. Narayanan, the court pointed out that the Supreme Court in the Rajasree case had clearly held that the appointment of the Vice-Chancellors must be in terms of the UGC regulations 2018.

The court noted that only one name was forwarded by the selection committee for appointment of VC to the Sanskrit university to the Chancellor which is in total violation of 7.3 of UGC Regulations, 2018 and “the ratio in Rajasree’s case applies on all fours”.

The continuance of the petitioner as Vice-Chancellor consequent to a selection that was totally contrary to the statutory provisions could not be permitted., the court added.