A petition challenging an order of the Chancellor of the Calicut University allowing the nominations of two Senate members to contest the Syndicate election was dismissed by the Kerala High Court.
K. Mohamed Haneefa, a Professor in the Department of Library and Information Science at the varsity had challenged the Chancellor’s act of allowing the nominations of P. Raveendran, Professor in the Department of Chemistry, and T.M. Vasudevan, Professor in the Department of Library and Information Science, to contest the election.
The petitioner had contended that the nominations were earlier rejected by the Returning Officer, and that the action of the Chancellor was without jurisdiction. Once the election was notified, the Chancellor could not stay it, he argued.
However, the court held that quashing the order of the Chancellor would result in complicating the issue. Any interference would leave consequences that would not be in the better interest of the University, the court held.
The court directed the Chancellor to hear all the affected parties and take a decision within three weeks in accordance with the provisions of the Acts and Statutes.
