Kannur: The Kerala Students Union (KSU) has raised serious allegations against Kannur University and its former Vice-Chancellor Gopinath Raveendran. In a press meeting called here on Wednesday KSU state vice-president P Muhammed Shammas accused the varsity of spending huge sums of money on Raveendran, including his expenses, and to conduct the case for his reappointment, violating norms.

Shammas presented RTI documents as proof to validate his allegations against the VC and the university. "Kannur University has spent a total of Rs 20.55 lakh on lawyer fees to conduct the case of Raveendran's reappointment as Vice-Chancellor till October 2023. During the same period, he was paid Rs 59,69,805 as salary. In addition, Rs 33,080 was shelled out as travel expenses and Rs 15.87 lakh for house rent. Such huge amounts have been spent violating norms,” said Shammas.

Laying out more instances of the varsity spending money on Raveendran, Shammas said: “Rs 70,111 was approved by the university for repairing the rented house. Rs 11.80 lakh was allocated for the purchase of equipment for the rented house. In short, crores of rupees were given to the former VC without following the norms.”

He further accused the university of collecting money from the students as fees to fund Raveendran's luxurious lifestyle and illegal activities. Shammas also said necessary action should be taken at the government level to recover the funds illegally withdrawn by Raveendran from the varsity. The KSU leader warned they would move legally against Raveendran if the university fails to recover the out-of-norms spending of the former VC.

The Supreme Court had quashed the High Court order approving the reappointment of Raveendran in November last year. The apex court observed that the appointment violated UGC norms.