University staff seek removal of Registrar

MALAPPURAM: Employees and teachers organisations at Calicut University on Wednesday demanded that Sanskrit professor T.K. Narayanan, who is currently Registrar of the university, be removed from service in the light of a High Court verdict, followed by the Chancellors order, ratifying the appointment of a rival candidate.

Leaders of the Calicut University Staff Organisation, Calicut University Teachers Association, Solidarity of University Employees, Calicut University Employees Forum, and Calicut University Employees Centre demanded that Dr. Narayanan step down from the Registrars post honouring the Chancellors order giving �notional appointment and all benefits to B. Karunakaran as Sanskrit professor at the university.

The Chancellors order marked the finale of a prolonged legal battle over the appointment of a Sanskrit professor in 1989, for which Dr. Karunakaran and Dr. Narayanan were candidates.

The selection committee in 1989 preferred Dr. Karunakaran to Dr. Narayanan for professors post.

The Syndicate, however, refused to appoint Dr. Karunakaran, who appealed to the Chancellor Dr. Swaroop Singh against the Syndicate move.

When the Chancellor favoured Dr. Karunakaran, his rival candidate Dr. Narayanan moved the court. Although the court asked the Chancellor to take an appropriate decision, no decisive move was made. Dr. Narayanan was appointed professor in 1997.

Court ruling

The High Court on November 24, 2009, ratified the appointment of Dr. Karunakaran and asked the Chancellor to take a final decision in the matter. The Chancellor ordered on February 19, 2010, that Dr. Karunakaran should be given �notional appointment and all benefits.

Dr. Karunakaran had retired from teaching in 1999 as head of the Department of Sanskrit, S.N. College, Kollam. If he had been appointed professor at the university in 1989, he would have been eligible for many benefits, the Chancellor observed.