With Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, also the Chancellor of the University of Calicut, nominating 18 persons from various fields to the Senate on November 20, elections to the Syndicate are likely to be held soon.
A majority of the members of the Syndicate are elected from among Senate members. The State government had nominated six persons to the Syndicate earlier after the term of the incumbent body expired. The university authorities completed the elections to the Senate by June 30, following High Court directions. However, the nomination of heads of departments, deans and the above-mentioned 18 persons by the Chancellor got delayed. The HoDs and deans were nominated in September.
Meanwhile, a petition was also filed in the Kerala High Court against the delay. The Chancellor is learnt to have expedited the process after the court sought its status.
The Chancellor has nominated A.R. Praveen Kumar and C. Manoj (high school headmasters), A.V. Hareesh and V.C. Linto (school teachers), P. Raveendran (member of research institution), Kapila Venu (cultural activist), T.P.M. Hashir Ali (chamber of commerce), T.J. Martin (industries), Balan Pootheri (author), A.K. Anuraj (journalist), N. Abdul Kareem (lawyer), Afsal Saheer (sports), S. Fathima (Tamil linguistic minority) and K. Mamatha (Kannada linguistic minority), and Sneha C. Nair, P.M. Aswin Raj, M.M. Siyanna, and K.K. Anusha (student representatives in various streams).
It is learnt that some of these nominations are based on a list submitted by the university while a majority of others were chosen by the Chancellor himself. In the normal course, the Chancellor clears the list sent by the university vice-chancellor which will have names of those who are aligned with the ruling party. This time, however, the nominees also include people who are close to the BJP, Congress, and the Indian Union Muslim League. Now, the university authorities are expected to incorporate the new members to the Senate and issue a notification for the Syndicate election.
