Supreme Court’s observation that UGC regulations shall prevail over Acts of State Universities will lead to centralisation of powers: Kerala Minister R. Bindu

Dr. Bindu says the government will implead in the review petition filed by M. S. Rajasree whose appointment as Vice Chancellor of KTU was quashed by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court’s position that the UGC regulations shall prevail over the Acts of State Universities would lead to centralisation [of power] and this needed to be viewed along with the current political situation at the national level, Minister for Higher Education R. Bindu has said.

Asked whether she is blaming the apex court for aligning with the Union government’s attempts to undermine federalism, Dr. Bindu said it could be interpreted in such a way though she did not say it. “It is not the courts alone that are creating problems [in the higher education sector],” she said at a media interaction at the Ernakulam Press Club on Thursday amid the Left front government’s escalating rift with Governor Arif Mohammed Khan over the appointment of Vice Chancellors of State universities.

Dr. Bindu said the government has decided to implead in the review petition filed by M. S. Rajasree whose appointment as Vice Chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) was quashed by the Supreme Court.

Asked about a banner put up by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) at Government Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram, asking whether “Raj Bhavan is the Governor’s ancestral property”, the Minister said the language used in the banner was inappropriate. “Such one-off incidents need not be generalised,” she said.

Regarding the recent remark by the SFI’s district secretary that he would “break the legs of a college principal”, Dr. Bindu said the “context in which he had mentioned it should be examined.”

On the criticism against Priya Varghese, wife of Chief Minister’s Private Secretary K.K. Ragesh, that she had included her deputation as NSS coordinator in her teaching experience while applying for the post of Associate Professor at Kannur University, Dr. Bindu said there would be a scarcity of teachers to undertake the roles of Registrars and Controller of Examinations in universities if their service is not counted as part of teaching experience.

The Minister said Ciza Thomas, who was given charge of the Vice Chancellor of KTU by the Governor, has not yet intimated the government about the “non-cooperation” of senior university officials.