THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Saturday reiterated his observations that political interference plagues the higher education sector as the political agenda of the state government outweighs academic merit while choosing vice-chancellors of universities in the state.
Khan who shot a strongly worded letter to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday, expressing his willingness to step aside as the chancellor of state universities, told reporters in New Delhi on Saturday that he was forced to write the letter as he had run out of options to ensure autonomy and integrity of universities.
He said he tried to best to avoid a confrontation with the government, but the latter refuses to get along. When it comes to the matter of selection of candidates to the post of university vice-chancellors, the government tries to tie the governor’s hands in order to push political agenda, he said.
“The chief minister has nothing to do with universities. While the school education in the state if fine, higher education has gone to the dogs. Even appointments are made against the rules,” Khan said.
The governor, who is also the chancellor of state universities, said he did really mean it when he advised the chief minister to bring in an ordinance to assume the role of chancellor by himself. “Chancellor is not a constitutional post. That’s why I asked Vijayan to bring an ordinance wherein CM can take over as the chancellor,” the governor said.
Khan said he felt a lingering pain when the government decided to reappoint the incumbent vice-chancellor of Kannur University, despite the chancellor raising pertinent questions regarding the appropriateness of such a decision. “It was after signing the order that I decided to write to the CM, asking him to take over as the chancellor,” Khan told reporters.
The governor said he was deeply saddened because the government refused to correct its course despite repeated requests. “Governor was made chancellor of the universities with an objective to ensure transparency,” he said. Khan added that students were forced to leave Kerala for quality higher education.
The governor explained that the government tried to tie up his hands by giving the name of only one candidate of government’s choice for appointment to the post of vice-chancellor in Sanskrit University, Kalady. “If there were more than one name, I could have selected the person best suited for the job,” he said.
