The special meeting of the Kerala University (KU) Senate convened on Tuesday to propose a nominee for the selection process of the next Vice Chancellor was called off after the pro-Left Democratic Front (LDF) members toed the political leadership’s line to abstain from the discussion.
The meeting was abandoned in the absence of the minimum quorum of 19 members in the 91-member council. Only 13 members, including Vice Chancellor V.P. Mahadevan Pillai and 10 United Democratic Front (UDF) members, turned up. Besides, only two of the 13 members who had been nominated to the Senate by the Chancellor were present.
Despite their absence, a large number of LDF members, including legislators V.S. Joy and V. Sasi, were on the campus during the scheduled time.
According to a pro-LDF member, who requested anonymity, they refrained from attending the meeting since the Chancellor had not yet responded to the resolution passed by the Senate to place on record its objection to the “unilateral” constitution of the search panel without including its nominee. Besides, they strongly felt that the university was on firm legal ground in the issue.
Meanwhile, the UDF contingent, which was led by legislators M. Vincent and C.R. Mahesh, submitted to Prof. Pillai a proposal to appoint former Vice Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit and Kerala Kalamandalam M.C. Dileep Kumar as the Senate’s nominee to the search committee.
Speaking to mediapersons, Mr. Vincent accused both the LDF and Governor Arif Mohammed Khan of pushing the university into an administrative impasse.
The development is likely to prompt the Governor to mull various options, including the adoption of disciplinary proceedings, and even pursue the possibility of going ahead with the selection process with the existing two members of the search panel. Such decisions, however, could pave the way for protracted legal battles with the LDF refusing to budge from its stance.
