An appeal has been filed before a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court against the verdict of a single judge upholding the re-appointment of Gopinath Ravindran as Vice Chancellor (VC) of Kannur University.
In the appeal filed on Thursday, Premachandran Keezhoth, member, Senate, Kannur University, and Shino P. Jose, member, Academic Council (Management Studies), Kannur University, said that the single judge had failed to consider that there was no distinction in law between an appointment and a re-appointment.
The single judge had upheld the re-appointment of Mr. Ravindran while dismissing a writ petition filed by them.
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The petitioners termed fundamentally wrong the legal premise in the single judge’s observation that for re-appointment as per the proviso to subsection (10) of Section 10 of the Kannur University Act, there was no requirement for constituting the selection committee as was done during the initial appointment. The appellants contended that the constitution of a search committee and the preparation of a panel by it were a prerequisite or quintessential requirement in the appointment of a VC. There was no provision in the UGC Regulation for re-appointment of a VC. When this was the position, his reappointment was legally impermissible.
Besides, there was a statutory bar on the appointment of a person who had crossed 60 years on the date of appointment. Dr. Ravindran had crossed the age of 60 in 2020.