Kerala government to remove Governor Arif Mohammad Khan from the post of chancellor of universities after controversy

The Left-led government of Kerala on Wednesday decided to remove Governor Arif Mohammad Khan from the post of chancellor of all universities, after several days of tussle.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's cabinet voted in favor of bringing an ordinance to remove the governor from office. Earlier, Governor Arif Mohammad Khan had asked the vice-chancellors of all the nine universities present in the state to resign.

The latest issue in the state government's dispute with the governor regarding the functioning of universities was the appointment of vice-chancellors. Kerala Higher Education Minister R. Bindu said that the government wants to deploy specialist academicians in place of the governor as the chancellor of universities in the state.

In October, the Supreme Court in Thiruvananthapuram-based A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) as the Vice Chancellor of Dr Rajshree M.S. was dismissed, and based on the violation of university rules.

As per rules, the Chancellor can appoint Vice-Chancellors from a panel of names recommended by an official committee. But the government had recommended only one name. The Supreme Court said that the Chancellor had "no choice" as no list of names was sent. The governor later appointed Siza Thomas as the vice-chancellor in charge.