Kerala's Left-led government today decided to remove Governor Arif Mohammad Khan as Chancellor of universities in a sharply escalating confrontation that has been building up for days.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's cabinet voted to bring in an ordinance or special order to remove the Governor from the post. The move comes days after Mr Khan asked the vice chancellors of all nine universities in the state to resign.
All the vice chancellors approached the High Court challenging the Governor's order.
The state government's move is the latest in its tussle with the Governor over the functioning of universities, including the appointment of Vice Chancellors.
Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu said the government wants to replace the Governor with expert academicians as chancellor of universities in the state.
In October, the Supreme Court sacked Dr Rajasree MS as Vice Chancellor of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) in Thiruvananthapuram citing a violation of university rules.
According to the rules, the Chancellor can appoint the Vice Chancellor out of the panel of names recommended by an official committee.
But the government recommended only one name. The Supreme Court said the Chancellor "had no other option" before him as there was no list of names.
The Governor later appointed Ciza Thomas as Vice Chancellor in-charge.
The state government had requested the High Court to hold the appointment ordered by the Governor. The court yesterday refused to do so.
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