HC refuses to interfere with KU Registrar’s suspension

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the suspension of Kerala University Registrar K.S. Anilkumar. It went on to direct the Vice-Chancellor to convene a meeting of the university Syndicate, through the Registrar in-charge, to take a call on revoking the suspension.

The decision taken by the Syndicate will necessarily be binding on the Vice-Chancellor and the V-C will have to give effect to it, subject to the powers of the Chancellor, said a Bench of Justice T.R. Ravi.

The Registrar was suspended on July 2 following a row over displaying a photo of ‘Bharat Matha’ at an event in the university’s Senate Hall.

In his plea, the Registrar had sought an order quashing his suspension and also a directive to the V-C not to prevent him from discharging his duties as Registrar.

He alleged that many orders issued by the V-C were without any authority of law and void.

The V-C submitted that the Registrar did not show due responsibility in diligently dealing with the situation at the Senate Hall, particularly when the Governor, who is the Chancellor of the university, was attending the function.

Although the petitioner had sought to justify his action on the basis of students’ agitation on the university premises, he did not lodge a complaint regarding the alleged violent acts of antisocial elements who were said to have created a commotion. Instead, he only lodged a complaint against the organisers for conducting the meeting without permission.

Emphasising that the university is supposed to be the guardian of the higher education system and its functioning cannot be derailed by political or other considerations, the court said it should be guided only by academic considerations.

The Registrar had earlier submitted before the court that the V-C was an officer under the university and not an authority and was, hence, bound to implement the decisions of the Syndicate. He thus cannot decide whether the Syndicate’s decision was bad or not. Moreover, the V-C had to approach the Chancellor for revoking its decisions. He urged the court to quash multiple orders issued by the V-C that prevented him from rejoining duty.