High court refuses to stay suspension of KU registrar
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The bench of Justice N Nagaresh passed the order on a petition filed by Kumar challenging his suspension and adjourned the matter to Monday for a detailed hearing. VC Mohanan Kunnummal had suspended Kumar on July 2 for allegedly insulting the governor who is also the chancellor of the university in connection with a private event held at the university's Senate Hall in Thiruvananthapuram.
The controversy began with a seminar held by Sree Padmanabha Seva Samiti on June 25 to mark the 50th anniversary of the declaration of Emergency in India.
Just before the event started, Kumar cancelled earlier permission to use the Senate Hall saying the organizers had broken rules by displaying a picture of Bharat Mata on stage. The governor was the chief guest at the event. Kunnummal later suspended Kumar saying the cancellation was made after the programme had already started with the governor on stage.
In his petition, Kumar said students from different political groups had got into a heated exchange and the display of the picture on stage had created a threat of violence.
He said he had asked the organizers to take down the picture but they went ahead with the function. As the situation worsened and students allegedly started pushing and assaulting one another he said he had no choice but to cancel the permission.
During the hearing, the petitioner cited a report by the university's PRO who had inspected the venue. The report said organizers had broken rules by displaying religious symbols.
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The petitioner said a photo of a lady holding a saffron flag was placed prominently at the centre of the stage garlanded and decorated with flowers. He said the image seemed to be that of a Hindu goddess.
At this point, the court asked what religious symbol the petitioner claimed to have seen and which photograph displayed by Padmanabha Samiti could provoke communal riots in Kerala. The court said it was unfortunate that the petitioner was describing Bharat Mata as a lady holding a flag.
'VC has no power to suspend registrar'
The senior counsel for the petitioner challenged the suspension order saying the VC had no power under the university statute to suspend the registrar. Only the university syndicate can take disciplinary action against senior officials. The counsel said the VC can act only against deputy registrars and those in lower posts.
In response, the court said orally that the VC does have the power to suspend but the action must be placed before the syndicate for approval. The bench said the petitioner should not have handled the issue in such a way especially as the governor was present at the programme.
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