THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan has issued show cause notice to nine vice chancellors asking them to submit reasons, if any, on why he should not remove them as vice chancellors in the light of the recent Supreme Court that cancelled the appointment of Kerala Technological University for procedural lapses in the selection process.
The vice chancellor's have been asked to submit their reasons latest by November 3.
Khan sent the show cause notice in his capacity as the chancellor of state universities after the vice chancellors of nine universities refused to go by his direction, on Sunday, to resign before 11.30am on Monday.
Khan who refused to speak to a posse of television journalists on Monday met media at Raj Bhavan, explaining why he asked the vice chancellors to step down. The Supreme Court order has found nothing wrong with the KTU vice chancellor. What the Supreme Court said was that the procedure of the selection process was not in tune with the provisions laid down by the University Grants Commission, he said.
"I have great respect for at least two, three vice chancellors. But, what I am supposed to do as a chancellor after the Supreme Court that declared the selection of KTU vice chancellor as invalid ab initio'', Khan said, adding that he was also studying the case of two other vice chancellors appointed by the state government in two relatively new universities.
The SC has found that while appointing Dr M S Rajasree as vice chancellor of KTU university, the search cum selection committee recommended only one name instead of a panel of candidates for the appointment to the post. Also, the search cum selection committee was not appointed in accordance with the UGC regulation that the committee members should be academics.
Khan rejected chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan's allegation that the governor denied natural justice to the vice chancellors by asking them to step down immediately. He said the question of natural justice would have arised only if he had sacked the vice chancellors all of a sudden.
Meanwhile, the nine vice chancellors have approached the Kerala HIgh Court and the court is currently hearing their pleas.
