India News | Kerala HC Notice to Governor on Plea Against Order Upholding Kannur VC's Re-appointment

Kochi, Dec 17 (PTI): The Kerala High Court on Friday issued a notice to the Chancellor of the varsities and others in an appeal against its single judge's ruling that there was no violation of any statutory provision in the re-appointment of Gopinathan Ravindran as the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Kannur University.

Also Read | India Blockchain Accelerator Launched To Boost Startup Ecosystem.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly, however, did not issue notice to Ravindran.

Also Read | Varavara Rao Health Update: Poet Medically Stable as Per Hospital Report, He Must Surrender Before Jail, NIA to Bombay High Court.

The notice to the Chancellor, i.e. the Governor of the State, would be dispatched to the Raj Bhavan through a special messenger, the court said.

The appeal filed by Dr Premachandran Keezhoth, a member of the varsity's Senate, would be heard after the Christmas vacation.

The petition, filed through advocate Nisha George, seeks setting aside of the single judge decision of December 15 and quashing Ravindran's appointment as VC.

It contended that since Ravindran was already over 60 years old, there was a statutory bar on him being appointed as VC.

Therefore, he could not have been appointed as VC of the varsity by terming it as a "re-appointment", the appeal contends.

The single judge, in his December 15 order, had said that re-appointment was different from appointment and the procedure adopted for the latter need not be followed when re-appointing someone.

The single judge had also held that for re-appointment age criteria would not be applicable.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)