Kerala governor reappoints Ciza Thomas, Sivaprasad as interim VCs of KTU and Digital University

Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, in his capacity as Chancellor of the universities in the state, on Friday, reappointed Dr Ciza Thomas and Dr K Sivaprasad as interim Vice Chancellors of Digital University, Kerala (DUK) and APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU), respectively.

According to the Raj Bhavan, the appointments were made in compliance with a recent Supreme Court directive. The Raj Bhavan issued the notification after the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that it was open for the Chancellor to issue a fresh notification appointing interim Vice-Chancellors in both universities, but the period in any case cannot exceed six months

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The separate notifications issued by the Raj Bhavan on Friday says both Ciza Thomas and Sivaprasad will exercise the powers and perform the duties of the office of the Vice Chancellor in the respective universities for a period of six months or till a regular Vice Chancellor is appointed, whichever is earlier.

Ciza Thomas and Sivaprasad,who were appointed by former Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, had stepped down on July 14 after a division bench of the Kerala High Court upheld a single judge’s order invalidating their appointments. Governor Rajendra Arlekar had approached the apex court against the High Court verdict which stated that the appointment of interim Vice Chancellors should only be from a panel of names submitted by the government.

Even though the state government had submitted a panel of three names each for the appointment of interim vice chancellors in both universities, the governor turned it down and went ahead with the reappointment of Ciza Thomas and Sivaprasad

Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Governor Rajendra Arlekar, demanding cancellation of the appointment of temporary Vice Chancellors for Digital University, Kerala (DUK) and APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU)

The chief minister, in his letter, said the appointment of the Vice Chancellors was not made as per the Digital University, Kerala (DUK) and APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU)Act .

He further said that the appointment of temporary Vice Chancellors now made is a violation of the Supreme Court verdict

Responding to the appointment, state Higher Education Minister R Bindu said the appointment of vice chancellor is a unilateral decision of the Governor. Bindu accused the Governor of appointing RSS loyalists as vice chancellors, ignoring court rulings.