The Hindu: Kochi: Wednesday, October 26, 2022.
Appointment of VC would be illegal if search committee recommends only one name, SC had held in a previous order.
The search committee for the selection of the Vice Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, had recommended only Prof. M.V. Narayanan to the post, according to details emerging out of an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
Six other candidates had met the eligibility criteria for the appointment. But the committee, which met in Thiruvananthapuram on December 6, 2021, had recommended only a single name, according to information provided by the State Public Information Officer, Kerala Raj Bhavan, in response to the RTI application filed by Save University Campaign Committee (SUCC).
The records hold relevance as the Supreme Court had held that the appointment of a Vice Chancellor would be illegal if the search committee recommended only one name instead of a panel, in its order setting aside the appointment of Dr. Rajasree M.S. as Vice Chancellor of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technological University, said R.S. Sasikumar, chairman of SUCC.
The search committee consisted of Prof. V.K. Ramachandran, Vice Chairman of the Kerala State Planning Board; Prof. Shrinivasa Varakhedi, nominee of the University Grants Commission, and Prof. Rajan Gurukkal, Vice Chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council.
SUCC pointed out that the inclusion of Prof. Gurukkal was in violation of University Grants Commission (UGC) rules as he was linked to the university affairs in his capacity as Vice Chairman of the State Higher Education Council.
The six other candidates included professors and senior professors of Mahatma Gandhi University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, and Calicut University.
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