Guv's search panel: Kannur University VC tampered with minutes of Senate meeting, say UDF members

Kannur: UDF Senate members of Kannur University have accused Vice-Chancellor in-charge Prof K K Saju of tampering with the minutes of Friday's special Senate meeting, convened to nominate a member to the Chancellor's three-member search-cum-selection committee for appointing the VC.

They said the agenda to nominate or elect a person of eminence to the Chancellor's search committee was withdrawn at the insistence of LDF members but the minutes, released on Saturday, July 20, said the Senate voted to not propose a name to the search committee. "That is a complete misrepresentation of what happened at the Senate meeting," said Dr Shino P Jose, Convenor of UDF Senators' Forum.

The forum demanded that the university withdraw the altered minutes and publish the correct version. "Withdrawing the agenda would allow the Senate to revisit the matter and possibly nominate a person to the search committee. However, the incorrect recording of the events closes that window," he said.

According to the minutes, Senate members and Kannur District Panchayat President P P Divya proposed not to proceed with the agenda of nominating a person to the search committee for the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor. More than 10 pro-LDF senate members, including CPM MLAs C H Kunhambu and T I Madhusoodanan, seconded the view.

But pro-UDF senators such as Adv ER Vinod, Dr Jose, Dr Premachandran, Muhammed Haseeb TK, Muhammed Ashefas and Dr MJ Mathew objected to the proposal and requested to proceed with the nomination of a person to the search-cum-selection committee.

The chair of the meeting, Vice-Chancellor in-charge Prof Saju put Divya's proposal to vote. Of the 76 members, 48 voted in favour of not sending a nominee to the Governor's search-cum-selection committee to appoint the Vice-chancellor, said the minutes.

When contacted, Vice Chancellor in-charge Prof Saju told Onmanorama that he declared the agenda open to the floor for discussion so there was no question of withdrawing it. "Senate member Divya put up a proposal not to send a person to the selection panel. The majority voted in favour of it. The agenda was not withdrawn," he said.

However, according to several senate members, Divya initially proposed to introduce a resolution declaring that the Senate would not nominate a member to the Search Committee. But it was withdrawn after UDF members opposed it citing the University's Act and Statute. But that is not reflected in the minutes. "It is true that the proposed resolution was withdrawn but it was not relevant to include it in the minutes," said Prof Saju. "The crux of the matter is we are not sending a person to the search panel," the VC in-charge said.

UDF senate member Dr MJ Mathew said the Vice-Chancellor in-charge hid the facts that happened at the Senate meeting to save his face before Chancellor Arif Mohammed Khan.

The VC in-charge, as the chair of the meeting, had discretionary powers to reject the demand to withdraw the agenda. The agenda was set by Dr Saju on the direction of the Governor. The special meeting was also convened on the direction of the Governor in the letter dated January 30, said Dr Mathew. "Now the VC in-charge will have to answer the Governor why he allowed the withdrawal of the agenda," he said.

If the agenda was not withdrawn, as claimed by Prof Saju, the pro-UDF senate members would have proposed the name of Prof Achuthsankar S Nair, head of the Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at the University of Kerala, said Dr Mathew. "And if we were allowed to propose, the LDF members would have been forced to name their nominee or vote down our nominee. None of this happened," he said.

To be sure, in the University of Kerala, the pro-LDF Senate members, led by Pro-Chancellor and Higher Education Minister R Bindu, declared the agenda to nominate a member to the Governor's search committee 'illegal' because the matter is pending before the Supreme Court. Without discussion, the minister, who chaired the meeting in February, declared the resolution as passed and the LDF members walked out. But the UDF members and Senate members nominated by the Chancellor stayed back and proposed two separate names for the selection panel. The High Court of Kerala has, however, stayed the proceedings initiated by the Governor on Friday, July 20.

The minutes of Kannur University's Senate meeting, perhaps inadvertently, went on to record the fact that the pro-UDF members were ready to propose Prof Achuthsankar S Nair's name, but left the sentence hanging. The minutes read: "Adv Karunakaran Nambiar and Dr Shino P Jose were ready to propose," leaving the sentence incomplete.