Rumours are rife about the probable candidates to be considered for the post of Vice Chancellor of Calicut University, the largest in the State with colleges in five districts under its jurisdiction, with the incumbent’s tenure ending on November 20.
It remains to be seen if Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who is also the Chancellor of the varsity, will approve of a person proposed by the Left Democratic Front government and the CPI(M) as he had reportedly gone against their wishes while appointing the Vice Chancellor for the Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS). K. Mohammed Basheer, the current VC, was appointed during the tenure of the United Democratic Front government in 2015.
The search committee set up by the State government had last week gone through the list of around two dozen persons who had applied for the post. M. Jagadesh Kumar, Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, V.K. Ramachandran, Vice Chairman, Kerala State Planning Board, and Tom Jose, Chief Secretary, are its members. Mr. Kumar is the nominee of the University Grants’ Commission.
According to sources, K.M. Seethi, Professor, School of International Relations and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi University, is among the prominent names doing the rounds. Mr. Basheer has also reportedly thrown his hat into the ring. Though the names of a couple of other teachers in Calicut University and a prominent academic from New Delhi are also being circulated, they could not be verified. It is learnt that one of the aspirants with connections in the national capital has already begun lobbying for the post.
The committee is planning to hold a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on November 12 and interact with some of the applicants. The panel is expected to shortlist either one candidate or three of them and submit it to the Governor for approval before November 15, when its tenure will end.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) State leadership is expected to choose their nominee for Calicut University in the coming days. Both the government and the CPI(M) are reportedly sore over the way Mr. Khan chose Mohanan Kunnummel for the post of KUHS VC. They were keen to have either Praveenlal Kuttichira or V. Raman Kutty for the post.
