Don't Make Fresh Nominations To Replace Members Whose Nomination In Kerala University Senate Has Been Withdrawn: High Court To Governor

In a development related to the appointment of Kerala University's new Vice Chancellor, the High Court on Friday interdicted the state Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who is the Chancellor of the varsity, from nominating any new members to its Senate in place of the 15 members, who have been removed by him in his capacity as the Chancellor.

The interim order was passed by Justice Murali Purushothaman after considering the petition challenging the Governor's order withdrawing the nomination of the heads of the Institute of Management and departments of Music, Sanskrit  and Philosophy as Ex-Officio members of Kerala University Senate. The other Senate members have also filed separate petitions challenging the decision of the Governor. 

Granting time to the counsel appearing for Chancellor to produce record on the basis of which the order was passed, the court said, "till such time, there will be a direction to the 1st respondent Chancellor not to make any fresh nominations in place of the petitioners".

In the plea moved through Advocates N. Raghuraj, Sayujya, and Vivek Menon, it was averred that as per Section 17 Chapter IV of the Kerala University Act, 1974, the Senate is to consist of Ex-Officio Members, Elected Members, Life Members, and Other Members, and as per Section 19, the Senate has been termed as the supreme authority of the University.

Section 17(13) of the statute stipulates that, "7 Heads of the University Department, who are not otherwise members of the Senate, to be nominated in the order of Seniority by the Chancellor, by rotation".

The petitioners were nominated as Ex-Officio members of the Senate by the University, vide notification dated 28th September 2021, and were to hold the positions till 23rd September 2023, the court was told.

 The Chancellor issued a communication dated 13th June 2022, requiring the Senate to send their nominee to the Selection Committee for appointment of Vice Chancellor of the University. This was followed by a similar letter by the Governor's Principal Secretary.

Pursuant to the same, according to the petition, the university Registrar had sent a letter dated 14th July 2022, informing the Governor's Principal Secretary that a special meeting of the Senate was scheduled to be held on 15th July 2022 to elect a representative of the Senate to the Committee.

In the meeting that was held, Dr. V. K. Ramachandran, Vice Chancellor of the Kerala State Planning Board, was elected unopposed as the representative of the Senate, which was also duly informed to the Chancellor or Governor. Subsequently, Ramachandran informed about his inconvenience to accept the position to the Registrar, which was also brought to the notice of the Chancellor.

However, the plea argues that much to the shock and surprise of the members of the Senate, the Registrar received a notification issued by the Chancellor, constituting a Search Committee consisting of two persons for recommending a person for appointment as the Vice Chancellor. It was also stated in the notification that the nominee of the Senate shall be included in the Committee as and when same is received from the university. 

According to the petition, since the decision of the Chancellor was not in accordance with Section 10(1) of the Act, the Senate in its meeting held on 20th August 2022, unanimously opined that the constitution of the Selection Committee without the representative of the Senate for the purposes of selecting the Vice Chancellor was not a democratic practice.

The Senate in the meeting also unanimously resolved to request the Chancellor to withdraw the notification. However, according to the petition the Chancellor proceeded to ignore the same, and issued letters to the Vice Chancellor of the University to furnish the name of the member elected by the Senate to be included in the Selection Committee. Following this, a special meeting of the Senate was called for by the Vice Chancellor on 11th October 2022.

However, according to the plea, since the first petitioner had been preoccupied on the said date, being the External Examiner for PhD candidates of Department of Business Administration, Annamalai University, he submitted an application for Special Casual Leave for the said date before the Registrar.

The other petitioners were also absent from the Senate meeting on the said date due to "various indispensable" personal issues, and thus the meeting could not come to be materialised due to lack of quorum.

Since the meeting could not take place, the petition states that the Registrar received a letter from the Principal Secretary to the Governor with a notification dated 18th October 2022, withdrawing his pleasure in allowing the petitioners as well as 11 other members of the Senate from continuing in the body with effect from 15th October 2022.

The Governor's decision has been challenged by the petitioners as being arbitrary, illegal, without jurisdiction, and in violation of the principles of natural justice, thus warranting immediate intervention of the High Court.

It was further submitted that the petitioners who are Ex-Officio Members under Section 17(3) of the Act, do not fall within the purview of 'Other Members' under the statute, in respect of whom the Chancellor can withdraw his pleasure.

The Standing Counsel for the Chancellor Jaju Babu, however, submitted before the Court today that the petitioners had been nominated for the term, and that they were exercising powers in excess of those vested under Chapter IV Section 17 of the Act. Thus, it was submitted that the petitioners being nominated members, the Governor could withdraw pleasure and no reasons need be stated for the same.

The matter has been posted for further hearing on October 31.

Case Title: Dr. K.S. Chandrasekhar & Ors. v. The Chancellor & Ors. 

Click Here To Read/Download The Order