Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Cabinet made the decision on Wednesday to introduce an ordinance to remove Governor Arif Mohammad Khan from the position of Chancellor amid the ongoing dispute between the governor and the Left administration.

The State Cabinet, however, intends to replace the Chancellor with an expert. Governor Arif Mohammad Khan requested the vice-chancellors of the state's nine universities to resign before making his decision.

In accordance with a directive from the governor of Kerala, the vice-chancellors of the University of Kerala, the Mahatma Gandhi University, the Cochin University of Science and Technology, the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, the University of Calicut, the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, and the Thunachath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University have been asked to resign from their positions.

Later, the VCs of nine universities filed a lawsuit against the Governor's directive to present their resignations at the High Court.

Also, Ciza Thomas was given the job of Vice Chancellor for the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) in Thiruvananthapuram by the Governor.

The nomination of Kerala Governor Arif Muhammad Khan as chancellor of the state universities was sought to be put on hold by the CM Pinarayi Vijayan government. The court, however, decided against postponing the appointment on Tuesday.

In October, the Supreme Court removed Dr. Rajasree MS from her position as Vice Chancellor, claiming a transgression of UGC regulations.

According to the UGC Regulations, the Visitor/Chancellor shall appoint the Vice Chancellor from the panel of names recommended by the Search Committee. The appeal filed by Professor Sreejith P.S. challenging the Kerala High Court order dated August 2, 2021 was accepted by a panel of justices led by MR Shah and CT Ravikumar. Therefore, the highest court noted, the Chancellor had no choice but to evaluate the names of the other applicants when only one person was proposed and the panel of names was not recommended.

Therefore, the court stated, the appointment of the respondent Rajasree can be seen to be outside of and/or in conflict with the requirements of the UGC Regulations as well as even the University Act, 2015.

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