Questions proposed for Calicut varsity Senate meeting rejected, claims pro-Left member

A Senate member of the University of Calicut has claimed that he was denied permission to ask questions about the cases referred by the university to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau for investigation and the assigning of a lawyer other than the institution’s standing counsel in the Kerala High Court, at the Senate meeting scheduled for March 22.

The questions were proposed by V.S. Nikhil, a pro-Left member, and a functionary of the university employees’ union. The first question has been rejected citing section xiii of the university’s statute 22, which deals with matters pending before statutory tribunals or statutory authority performing judicial or quasi-judicial functions, or commissions or court of inquiry. The second question was rejected citing sections i and ii of the statute 25, which says the Vice-Chancellor (V-C) shall disallow any question, or any part of a question, which in his opinion contravenes the provisions of the laws of the university, or cannot be answered consistently with the interests of the university, or contains any insinuation or amounts to an abuse of the rights of questioning.

Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar is expected to attend the Senate meeting scheduled on March 22. In a letter to the V-C, Mr. Nikhil said that he had been informed by the Registrar that the questions had been rejected. He claimed that the reasons cited for rejecting the questions were “childish” and construed a “misinterpretation” of the rules. He alleged that it was an attempt to conceal certain facts from the purview of the Senate, the supreme authority of the university. Mr. Nikhil urged the V-C to review the decision to ensure transparent administration and to protect the rights of the Senate.