Thiruvananthapuram: The state government has constituted a four-member search-cum-selection committee for the appointment of Vice-Chancellor in Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU) in Pookode, Wayanad.

Significantly, the committee was constituted without the nominee of Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who is the ex-officio Chancellor of the university.

The selection committee was formed on September 28, a day after Chancellor Khan stayed the university Managing Council's decision to reinstate two officials who were suspended in connection with the death of second-year student JS Sidharthan.

According to the Government Order, the members of the VC search-cum-selection committee are Prof Neelima Gupta, Vice-Chancellor of Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya at Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, as nominee of the University Grants Commission (UGC); Prof B Iqbal, academician and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kerala, as nominee of KVASU; Raman Sukumar, former professor of the Centre for Ecological Sciences at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, as nominee of the state government; and Dr Raghavendra Bhatta, Deputy Director General (Animal Science) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) as its nominee.

The order said the government formed the search committee by exercising its executive powers under Article 162 of the Constitution.

The committee was partially formed in accordance with the amended University Laws Bill, 2022, which seeks to divest the powers of the Governor over state-run universities.

But Governor Khan did not give his assent to the bill and forwarded it to President Droupadi Murmu. When she, too, kept the bills pending, the state government in March 2024 approached the Supreme Court challenging the inaction of the President.

According to the amended bill, the Governor is not the ex-officio Chancellor of the university. It says the government shall appoint an academician of repute or a person of eminence in the field of science, humanities, literature, art, culture, law or public administration as Chancellor of the university. The bill also expands the VC's search-cum-selection committee from three to five members, including a nominee of the Chancellor. But the government dropped the Chancellor's nominee perhaps because the bill is not the law, yet.

As per the existing law, the search-cum-selection committee has three members: the Chancellor's nominee; the government's nominee; and the Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research or his nominee. The Vice-Chancellor shall be appointed by the Chancellor from among the names recommended by the committee, it says.

The university's last full-time Vice-Chancellor was Prof MR Saseendranath, who was supposed to retire on July 23. But he was suspended from service following the death of the second-year veterinary student JS Sidharthan in February. He was replaced by Prof PC Saseendran on an ad-hoc basis. But he had to step down almost immediately after Governor Khan cancelled his controversial order to reinstate 33 students suspended after Sidharthan's persecution for three days and subsequent death in the hostel bathroom.

After that, by the end of March, the Governor appointed Prof KS Anil as Vice-Chancellor in charge of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. But last week, he got the goat of the government when he refused to implement the decision of the university's Managing Council to reinstate Dean MK Narayanan and Assistant Warden R Kanthanathan, who were suspended in connection with the death of Sidharthan. Instead, Prof Anil sought Chancellor Khan's opinion on reinstating the two officials. On September 27, Khan stayed the Managing Council's decision to reinstate Narayanan and Kanthanathan.

A day after, on September 28, the government formed the VC's search-cum-selection committee without the Governor's nominee. To be sure, the government initiated the process to set up the search committee on July 15. ICAR and UGC, two institutions under the Union government, sent the names of their nominees on July 25 and July 31.

The Kerala State Higher Education Council sent its nominee's name on July 22 and the university named Prof Iqbal as its nominee on August 23.

Save University Campaign Committee (SUCC), a whistleblower organisation, said that as per the existing law, only the Chancellor can constitute the search-cum-selection committee and only the Chancellor can appoint the Vice-Chancellor. "So it is likely that Governor Khan will reject the recommendation of this search-cum-selection committee," said SUCC chairman RS Sasikumar.