Kufos general council to consider Governor’s demand to pick its nominee to V-C selection panel

The governing council of the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (Kufos) will meet on Wednesday to consider the letter of the Kerala Governor to nominate a person to the search committee for the selection of a permanent Vice-Chancellor for the university.

The meeting attains significance in the wake of many universities in the State turning down the demand of the Governor, who is also their Chancellor, to send their nominees for the selection of permanent V-Cs.

The pro-Left governing council of the university has CPI(M) central committee member C.S. Sujatha, CPI(M) legislators U. Prathibha and K.V. Sumesh, CPI legislator Tyson Master, and a few other CPI(M) leaders as its members, besides representatives of faculty members and other sections of society.

Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian is the Pro-Chancellor of the varsity.

The Senate meeting of the Kerala University held on February 16 had evolved as a direct showdown between Mr. Khan and R. Bindu, the Minister for Higher Education, as she presided over the meeting in her capacity as the Pro-Chancellor of the University to “pass” a resolution rejecting the Governor’s directive to send a nominee for the V-C selection.

Mr. Khan, later responding to the developments, chose to term Ms. Bindu as a criminal and questioned the legality of her action.

Interestingly, the appointment of Riji John as the V-C of Kufos during the tenure of the earlier government had run into trouble, with the Kerala High Court cancelling his appointment. The Governor later appointed T. Pradeep Kumar, Professor and head, Department of Vegetable Science, College of Agriculture of the Kerala Agricultural University, as V-C even as the appeal filed by Mr. John was pending before the Supreme Court.

The governing council of Kufos may defer the decision on the nominee by adopting the stand that the case against Mr. John is pending before the apex court.