Leaders of the ruling CPI-M were seen scurrying for cover on Thursday following the Supreme Court verdict declaring as null and void the appointment of party cadre Gopinath Raveendran as vice chancellor of Kannur University. While R Bindu, higher education minister, who reportedly wrote to Governor Arif Mohammed Khan for speeding up the appointment of Gopinath despite the latter crossing the age limit, washed off her hands claiming that the decision to appoint the vice chancellor was made by the Governor, leaders of the Opposition Congress party demanded her resignation from the Government.
The Kerala Government’s move to reappoint Gopinath, who does not waste any opportunity to declare his pollical leanings, in November 2021 was seen as a fait accompli for appointing Priy Varghese as assistant professor in the same university despite the fact that she did not meet the minimum professional qualifications prescribed for the post. She is the spouse of K K Raghesh, CPI-M leader and an acolyte of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The reappointment of Gopinath as vice chancellor and appointment of Varghese as assistant professor in blatant violation of the University Grant Commission guidelines is seen as the epicentre of all irregularities in the sphere of higher education in Kerala, said P Rajan, veteran editor and chronicler of the State’s politics.
Reacting to the apex court verdict, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, said that he was fully aware that the decision to reappoint Gopinath would end up like this. “Chief Minister Vijayan met me personally and pleaded for reappointing Gopinath as the latter hailed from Vijayan’s village. Later he deputed his legal advisor to me with a letter from the advocate general of the State which declared that the reappointment of Gopinath was in line with the precedence and there was no irregularity in it. That was why I gave the clearance to the same,” said the Governor while speaking to the media on Thursday.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday had literally admonished the Governor for delaying the Bills sent to the Raj Bhavan for approval and not toeing the line of the CPI-M led Government.
“What were you doing for the last two years?”, the bench consisting of chief justice DY Chandrachud had asked the Governor. The Bills that were held back by the Governor included an order that removed him from the post of Chancellor of all Universities in the State and also an order appointing the former Chief Justice of Kerala High Court ManiKumar as chairman of State Human Rights Commission. The order appointing ManiKumar as SHRC chairman is being seen as an act of gratitude for favours received from him during his tenure as chief justice of the State.
It was Save University Campaign Committee, a body of academics and educationists, that alerted the Governor about the irregularities in the reappointment of Gopinath as vice chancellor though he was well past the age of superannuation. The Governor himself had disclosed in a media meet that Gopinath along with Irfan Habib, former chairman of ICHR and Ragesh had instigated hundreds of delegates who had assembled at Kannur to physically assault the former. “”Gopinath is a dangerous goonda like Irfan Habib,” said the Governor.
The duo along with the delegates were seen gesticulating and threatening the Governor who had gone to the university to inaugurate the annual conclave of historians.