The recent appointment of Syndicate member P. Rasheed Ahammed as the pro Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of the University of Calicut (CU) has led to claims and counter-claims over its legal aspects.
Pro-Left Syndicate members such as M.B. Faisal, K. Mohammed Haneefa, and T. Mohammed Saleem say that Mr. Ahammed’s nomination was introduced as an out-of-agenda item at the Syndicate meeting held on July 9. They claim that it is a “blatant violation” of the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) Regulations, 2010, under which the holder of the office of pro Vice-Chancellor must be a university professor. They point out that the UGC Regulations, 2018, did not alter this qualification. Despite this legal position, Mr. Ahammed, who is not a Professor in a university department, but a teacher holding the designation in an affiliated college, has been nominated solely on political considerations. Mr. Ahammed is also a functionary of the Indian Union Muslim League-affiliated Confederation of Kerala College Teachers.
They claim that it is contrary to the law and has deprived several senior university professors of their legitimate claim to the post. It also constitutes a serious affront to the academic community of the university, they say. K. Pradeep Kumar, P. Susanth, E. Abdurahim, and P.P. Sumod, MLA, the other pro-Left members, support these views. They say that V-C P. Raveendran and the pro-United Democratic Front (UDF) members displayed “arrogance” and “misuse of power”.
However, the pro-UDF members, including T.J. Martin, C.P. Hamsa, T.M. Vasudevan, and A.T. Abdul Jabbar, dismiss these claims, calling them “politically motivated”. They say that it is the prerogative of the V-C to nominate the pro Vice-Chancellor. The appointment process has been completed with the approval of the Syndicate as well. They point out that all the academic appointments in universities are subject to the UGC Regulations, 2018, according to which Mr. Ahammed is qualified to hold the post. Though the regulations of 2010 had a provision to have only university professors as pro Vice-Chancellor, the 2018 version had removed it.
The appointment is valid under the Calicut University Act too. They also say that the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had appointed S. Ayoob as the pro Vice-Chancellor of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) in 2019 in line with the UGC Regulations, 2018. Mr. Ayoob was a teacher in an affiliated college. They also say that the LDF members are peeved because Mr. Ahammed was instrumental in unearthing many illegal activities in the university in the past.
Meanwhile, the pro-Left Syndicate members claim that the KTU is an “affiliating university” alone when it was founded in 2014 and when Mr. Ayoob was appointed as pro Vice-Chancellor in 2019. It did not have teaching departments or professors either. That was why a teacher from an affiliated college was considered for the post. However, the University of Calicut is a “teaching and affiliating university” that has had its own senior Professors for decades. They also claim that the appointment is against the university statutes.
Published - July 14, 2026 09:01 pm IST