Uncertainty looms over the conduct of elections to the Syndicate of the University of Calicut with the Governor and Chancellor Arif Mohammed Khan staying the process recently.
The Chancellor’s order followed an appeal against the rejection of candidature of two Senate members, who had filed their nominations to contest the polls. The elections were scheduled for February 17.
The university Registrar, who is also the returning officer for the elections, had pointed out that P. Raveendran, professor, department of Chemistry, and T.M. Vasudevan, professor, department of Library and Information Science, could not contest the elections as they were nominated members of the Senate and not elected to the body. Both are members of a Congress-aligned university teachers’ organisation.
In his order issued on February 2, Mr. Khan said that as per Section 21(a) (iii) of the Calicut University Act, there was no legal embargo on a university teacher in contesting the Syndicate election, irrespective of the fact that whether the teacher was an elected or nominated member of the Senate. The Chancellor also asked the university to submit the records in this connection and stayed the proceedings. The Chancellor’s order followed complaints filed by Mr. Raveendran, Mr. Vasudevan, and V.M. Chacko, a functionary of the Congress-affiliated Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association.
Along with this, there are a couple of cases in the Kerala High Court related to the Syndicate election. The election schedule will now depend on the outcome from the court and whether the university authorities are able to convince the Chancellor about the legality of their decision.
