THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In view of the
Kerala high court rejecting the petition that challenged the selection of Gopinath Ravindran as
Kannur University
vice-chancellor for a second consecutive term, the
Save University Campaign Committee
(
SUCC
) that approached the court said it would challenge the single bench order in the division bench.
"Since the court has refused to accept the quo warranto petition in file, an appeal would be filed in division bench as soon as the copy of the single bench order is received," committee chairman
R S Sasikumar
said here on Wednesday.
The high court single bench has rejected the petition that challenged the appointment of Ravindran, who has already crossed the age limit of 60 years for the appointment to the post. It also challenged the disbanding of the search committee. The intervention of higher education minister R Bindu was also brought to the court's notice, the campaign committee office-bearers said.
"The reappointment of Kannur University vice-chancellor is the first such instance in the state. If it becomes precedence, vice-chancellors would be rendered susceptible to all kinds of pressures to earn a second term by winning the confidence of the government," they said.
Preliminary arguments regarding the petition were heard in the court well before the chancellor's letter to the chief minister, and letters written by the R Bindu to the chancellor have surfaced in the public domain. "The committee is fully confident that the rule violations would be considered by the appeal court," SUCC office-bearers said.
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