Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal on Monday wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind urging him to seek a report on the controversy between Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and officials of Kerala, including the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kerala, over the issue of conferring D.Litt. on the President.
In his letter, Mr. Venugopal said the President’s office had been “derogated” by dragging it into an unwarranted controversy and accused the Governor of crossing the “Lakshman Rekha”.
“It is reported that the Honourable Governor of Kerala, in his capacity as the Chancellor of the university, had issued a directive to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kerala to confer D.Litt. on the Honourable President. As per the reports, violating the statute of the university, the Vice-Chancellor, instead of convening a syndicate meeting to decide on the matter, informed the Governor that the university Syndicate had turned down the proposal,” the Congress leader wrote.
When the Governor summoned Vice-Chancellor V.P. Mahadevan Pillai and asked him to submit a written letter about the proposal being turned down by the Syndicate, Mr. Venugopal claimed that a hand-written letter was given from which it emerged that the Vice-Chancellor had merely consulted some members of the Syndicate and passed it off as a decision of the university Syndicate.
Asking the President to reprimand, the Congress leader said, “I would humbly request you to seek a detailed report on these unwarranted events and take appropriate action to settle this matter”.
