CM pressured me to reappoint Kannur University VC, alleges Kerala Governor

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, November 30

In an embarrassment to the Left Front Government in Kerala, the Supreme Court on Thursday quashed the reappointment of Gopinath Ravindran as the Vice-Chancellor of Kannur University, saying there was “unwarranted intervention” in the matter by the state government.

Rehiring quashed

Referring to the statement issued by the Kerala Raj Bhavan, the SC on Thursday quashed reappointment of Gopinath Ravindran as Vice-Chancellor of Kannur University for “unwarranted intervention” by the state government

Noting that it was not a case of mere irregularity, a Bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said set aside the Kerala High Court’s February 23, 2022 judgment that upheld the November 23, 2022 notification reappointing Raveendran as Kannur University VC.

“We have reached the conclusion that although the notification reappointing the respondent No. 4 (Ravindran) to the post of Vice-Chancellor was issued by the Chancellor, yet the decision stood vitiated by the influence of extraneous considerations or to put it in other words by the unwarranted intervention of the state government,” the Bench said.

Governor Arif Mohammad Khan accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of pressuring him to reappoint Ravindran as the VC. Higher Education Minister R Bindu was not to be blamed as it was Vijayan who used her for seeking Ravindran’s reappointment, Khan told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram. The Bench referred to a press release issued by the Kerala Raj Bhavan that said the process of re-appointment was initiated by the CM and the Higher Education Minister.

Writing the judgment for the Bench, Justice Pardiwala said, “It is the decision-making process, which vitiated the entire process of reappointment of the respondent No. 4 as the Vice-Chancellor.”

The Bench faulted Governor Arif Mohammad Khan — ex-officio Chancellor of state universities — for reappointing Ravindran to the post, saying he “abdicated or surrendered” the statutory powers for re-appointing the Vice-Chancellor. “The Chancellor was required to discharge his statutory duties in accordance with law and guided by… his own judgment and not at the behest of anybody else,” the Bench stressed.