‘He is a criminal’, Kerala Governor blasts Kannur varsity VC

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has made serious allegations against Kannur University Vice Chancellor Prof Gopinath Ravindran. The Governor charged that the VC is a criminal. 

Khan claimed that the Kannur University VC plotted to harm him. He was speaking to reporters on Sunday morning.  

“His conduct has crossed the line of decency. Even after the Raj Bhavan demanded the VC didn’t report to the police an attempt to take me on physically,” Khan said. 

Khan was apparently referring to the protest against him during the inauguration of 80th Indian History Congress at Kannur University in late 2019.

The incident happened when the Governor was delivering the inaugural address. The protestors raised placards against the Citizenship Amendment Act and also shouted slogans.

Police had to intervene and remove protesters who had created a commotion outside the auditorium.

Later, Governor summoned Vice-Chancellor Gopinath Raveendran to the Kannur guest house and demanded CCTV footage of the incident. 

The other day Khan had claimed that the Vice Chancellor was behaving like an instrument of the CPM. 

The Governor has been strongly opposing the alleged irregularties in the University. The recent flashpoint has been over the appointment of Dr Priya Varghese at the varsity. 

Priya is the wife of KK Ragesh, the private secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The university syndicate on Thursday decided to move the High Court against the Governor’s decision to stay the appointment of Priya as an associate professor of the Malayalam Department at the varsity on the grounds of nepotism.

The Governor is mulling strict action against the VC for calling an emergency meeting and then challenging his order and for speaking to the media against him.

This, Khan said, was gross misconduct and a serious violation.

“Anyone can criticise me, but I will discharge my duties as Governor,” Khan said.

The Governor is also the Chancellor of state universities.