Latest news with #UniversityAmendmentBill
New Indian Express
03-08-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Kerala govt, Governor set to begin talks for consensus on VC appointments
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the Supreme Court directing both the state government and the chancellor (Governor) to kick-start the process to appoint permanent vice-chancellors (VCs) in universities at the earliest, both sides are set to begin discussions to arrive at a consensus on the matter. Higher Education Minister R Bindu and Law Minister P Rajeeve are scheduled to meet Governor Rajendra Arlekar on Sunday at the directions of CM Pinarayi Vijayan. 'The government will try its best to resolve the deadlock,' Bindu told TNIE. As per highly placed sources, the constitution of search committees for selection of permanent VCs in a few universities will be taken up as a preliminary step. Of the 14 state universities, the Acts of seven varsities lay down that the chancellor shall constitute the search committee. However, the Acts of seven other universities are silent on who is the authority to constitute the panel. 'The second category mostly includes varsities that are newly established or under departments such as agriculture, fisheries, veterinary and health,' said a top source. 'The chancellor will allow the government to form search panel in such varsities to start the process. However, the Raj Bhavan will insist that the search committee be constituted as per UGC regulations,' the source added. As per the UGC regulations, the three-member panel will have nominees of the UGC chairman, the chancellor and the university syndicate. 'If the government agrees to this proposal, it would be an admission that the University Amendment Bill, that aims to alter the composition of search committees in its favour, is now a closed chapter. But there is no other choice as the President has withheld assent to the Bill,' said a government source. The preliminary steps by both parties will serve as a chance for either sides to demonstrate their intent in appointing permanent VCs through consensus. Universities where chancellor is authority to constitute search panel Kerala University MG University Calicut University Kannur University CUSAT Sanskrit University Digital University Universities where Act is silent on who should constitute search panel Kerala Agricultural University Malayalam University APJ Abdul Kalam Tech University Kerala University of Health Sciences Kerala Veterinary & Animal Sciences University Fisheries University Sreenarayana Guru Open University
The Hindu
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
SFI march to Raj Bhavan against Kerala Governor's ‘bid to saffronise State-run varsities' turns violent
A Students' Federation of India (SFI) march to Raj Bhavan against Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar's alleged bid to 'saffronise' State-funded universities turned violent in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday (July 10, 2025). Scores of SFI activists marched behind a lengthy cloth banner slamming Raj Bhavan-appointed temporary Vice Chancellor of Kerala University, Mohanan Kunnumal, as a 'Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) stooge'. The police, deployed in strength, cordoned off the road leading to Raj Bhavan with iron barricades to prevent the student activists from trespassing on Mr. Arlekar's official residence. The marchers toppled the barriers and climbed on top, sloganeering against Mr. Arlekar and Mr. Kunnumal. The police discharged water cannons several times to disperse the protesters, who refused to budge from the spot. Subsequently, the police sounded bugles and waved the mandatory red ensign, declaring the march an unlawful assembly and urging the protesters to disband. However, the warning had little effect on the agitators, forcing the police to display another red banner warning the activists that they would fire tear gas shells. As required by law, the police sounded the bugle three times and senior officials on the spot conferred with the protest leaders to pre-empt a police action, which seemed imminent. 'Existential struggle' The SFI declared that breaking into the Raj Bhavan precincts was not the objective of the march. The leaders stated that the activists would disperse on their own accord after the march. SFI national president Adarsh M. Saji inaugurated the protest. He cast the SFI's agitation against the Governor as 'an existential struggle to preserve the constitutionally sanctioned autonomy, democracy and secularism of State-funded varsities.' Mr. Saji said that two successive Governors in Kerala had repeatedly sought to 'undermine' the State's storied higher education sector by meddling in university administration and appointing 'incompetent RSS underlings' as temporary vice-chancellors and Syndicate members. Mr. Saji said Mr. Arlekar's predecessor had laid the ground for the 'RSS takeover of State universities' by refusing to sign the University Amendment Bill passed by the Legislative Assembly into law and referring it to the President when the Supreme Court damned the gubernatorial delay. (The Bill seeks to remove the Governor as chancellor of State-funded universities and appoint leading academics chosen by the Government to the top post.) Opposition Leader slammed SFI State president M. Sivaprasad railed against Kerala's Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan for terming the organisation's struggle against the RSS takeover of secular and autonomous State varsities as 'hooliganism and lawlessness'. Holding aloft a large photograph allegedly showing Mr. Satheesan lighting a lamp in front of pictures representing RSS' depiction of Bharat Mata and its ideological guide M.S. Golwalkar, Mr. Sivaparasad stated that the Leader of the Opposition was 'echoing the words' of former Governor Arif Mohammed Khan by criticising SFI students from working-class families fighting for secularism as 'goondas.' 'The Opposition Leader should change his name from V.D. Satheesan to V.D. Savarkar,' Mr. Sivaprasad said. He accused Mr. Satheesan of reining in KSU from joining the struggle. Mr. Satheesan told reporters in Kochi that the 'victims' of the Governor-government political tug of war were hapless students and families caught in the vortex of the academic and administrative dysfunction swamping universities. Traffic disruption The SFI protest turned the arterial Vellayambalam-Kowdiar road into a strife zone for the better part of the day. Anticipating violence, the police had diverted traffic well in advance of the march, forcing motorists and pedestrians to take long detours to reach their destinations. SFI activists booked Meanwhile, the Cantonment police booked nearly 200 SFI activists, including the leaders, on the charge of unlawful assembly, rioting, disturbing public peace and destruction of public property. So far, they have not arrested anyone.
