Days after the Kerala High Court refused to stay the Governor's order asking M V Narayanan to step down as VC of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, the academic called his removal “politically motivated” and an attack “on the federal structure and autonomy of universities”. In March, Governor Arif Khan as the Chancellor of universities had invalidated the appointments of Narayanan and the VC of Calicut University M K Jayaraj saying their appointments were in violation of UGC norms. On March 21, the HC, while hearing the pleas of the two VCs, refused to stay the Governor's order in Narayanan’s case while issuing a stay in the case of the removal of Jayaraj. Narayanan was removed from his post as his was the only name chosen by the search-cum-selection committee whereas UGC rules mandate that a panel of three-five shortlisted candidates must be sent to the Chancellor (Governor), who would then appoint one of them as the VC. Seven candidates, including Narayanan, were being considered for the post of VC of Sanskrit University. Narayanan, however, argued that his appointment process did not violate the state law under which the university was established. Speaking to The Indian Express, Narayanan said his name was recommended “unanimously and unequivocally” by all members of the committee as is mandated by the state law. “In my case, the [state] Act clearly states three courses of action. The first choice before them [selection committee] is to unanimously recommend the best person for the role and the chancellor will then appoint accordingly,” said Narayanan. In a 2019 case involving M S Rajasree, who was appointed VC of the Kerala government-run APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, the SC had ruled that in case of a conflict between a state law and a central law on subjects falling in the concurrent list, the central law would prevail. The Governor had cited the UGC regulation, which is contrary to the Sanskrit Univesity's regulation on appointments, to seek Narayanan's removal. Terming his removal from office “political”, Narayanan said, “When the matter came to the HC, the judge expressed helplessness. They said that they understood the substance in the arguments but the SC has come out and said that UGC regulations will prevail and they cannot go against that.” “This issue is not related to Sree Sankaracharya University alone. It bodes ominously for all the state universities. This is basically a pinnacle of centralisation.. There are technical issues, but this is also a very clever political game. By sidelining the state legislature and using the UGC to do it will inevitably lead to interference in each and every state university. Each university will then have Vice Chancellors decided by the Centre. in the same way it has been happening in Central universities. This will wreak havoc on the higher education system,” Narayanan added. In 2022, Governor Khan had asked the VCs of nine universities, including Narayanan and Jayaraj, to resign claiming that their appointment was not in line with UGC norms. Since then, seven of the nine VCs either completed their tenures or were expelled following court verdicts. In addition, the Governor also sent showcause notices to VCs of two other universities - Sree Narayanaguru Open University and Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology.
