Dr.B.Ashok issue: Kerala Legislative Assembly witnesses noisy scenes

The entire opposition walked out of the Kerala Legislative Assembly today in protest to the removal of Dr B Ashok from the post of Vice Chancellor, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University.

As Sri. C.Divakaran, former Minister for Animal Husbandry and CPI leader was refused permission to present a resolution on the issue by the Speaker, the opposition staged the walk-out.  He alleged that the rules of the university are violated and Dr B Ashok was removed for his articles criticizing the government and the Chief Secretary.

However Sri Oommen Chandy, the Chief Minister refuted the allegations and asserted that the Government observed all legality before deciding to remove Dr Ashok. He also denied the reports that the removal was against the publication of articles by Dr Ashok.  The Speaker’s decision to refuse permission to present the resolution was based on the Chief Minister’s reply.

www.thehindu.com reports:

"Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) staged a walkout in the Assembly on Monday in protest against the removal of Kerala University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Vice Chancellor B. Ashok from the post.

The Opposition accused the government of having committed a serious breach of the relevant norms and cut into the autonomy of the university by removing Dr. Ashok without any specific reason for doing so. However, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy maintained that Dr. Ashok's removal from the post was an administrative measure. The government, he said, had the authority to take back his service just as it had the power to make him available for the job.

Seeking leave for an adjournment motion on the issue, CPI Legislature Party leader C. Divakaran contended that the government could remove the Vice Chancellor only on specific grounds of misuse of power, misconduct, misappropriation of funds, or other similar charges and that there should have been an inquiry before the action. The government had thrown all these norms to the winds when removing Dr. Ashok from the job and this amounted to denial of natural justice to him, he said.

The Chief Minister said Dr. Ashok was appointed to the post invoking the government's powers to make such an appointment without going through the search route. The government had done nothing of the kind that past LDF governments and Mr. Divakaran's own party men had done when they removed A.M. Michael as Vice Chancellor of Kerala Agricultural University lowering the age of superannuation. Mr. Chandy said that the government would appoint the next Vice Chancellor following all the regulations. Additional Chief Secretary K. Jayakumar would hold charge of the post only till the new Vice Chancellor was appointed, he added.

Law Minister K.M. Mani pointed out that the government had all the right to invoke its discretionary powers under the General Clauses Act according to which the government had the power to both appoint and remove a person from service. Under the relevant rules, the Vice Chancellor can hold office only subject to the pleasure of the Governor. All that the government had done was to invoke discretionary powers in the matter, he added.

Leading the Opposition walkout, Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan said the government had misled the Governor and the House. Mr. Divakaran said that if the government ordered an inquiry at least at this late juncture, some shocking facts would come to light. Dr. Ashok, he said, was being denied salary ever since he took up the post. The whole episode had to do with squabbles within the civil service, he said."