The 29-day stir at the Kerala Law Academy Law College here came to end on Wednesday after the conciliatory talks chaired by Education Minister C.Raveendranath with representatives of student organisations and the management.
As per the agreement, P.Lekshmi Nair will be removed from the post of Principal, based on the decision of the Governing Council. A new Principal with all the requisite qualifications will be appointed in her place, as per the university guidelines. In case the management goes back from the decision, the government will intervene, says the minutes of the meeting.
The Minister told press persons that no time period has been specified for the new Principal. The management has assured that Ms.Lekshmi Nair will not return even as a faculty for the next 5 years.
"All student organisations have agreed to the terms and they all co-operated with an intention to end the impasse. The classes at the Academy will resume on Monday," said the Minister.
On being asked how the new agreement is different from the previous one arrived at between the Students Federation of India (SFI) and the management, he said that the management had now formally issued a notification for the new Principal, unlike last time. The notification, which appeared in Wednesday's newspapers, has called for an interview on February 18. Earlier in the day, CPI leaders Kanam Rajendran and V.S.Sunilkumar held meetings with the student organisations.
Following the discussions with the Minister, the student organisations, except the SFI, which had ended its strike last week, broke out into celebrations, outside the meeting venue at the Secretariat and at the Academy campus. However, the SFI leaders maintained that there is no difference between the agreement that they arrived at with the management, and the one on Wednesday. They said that no Governing Council meeting had been held after their agreement and hence the decisions cited in the latest minutes are the same as the one in their own agreement.
