KANNUR: The Kannur University Democratic Forum (KUDF) has accused the university Syndicate of `ill-motivated' moves for expelling the university Registrar on grounds that are inconsistent with the statutes of the institution.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, activists of the KUDF, which is a forum represented by pro-United Democratic Front teachers' and students' unions and university staff organisations, said the show-cause notice served by the Syndicate on university Registrar K.M. Abdur Rasheed was the culmination of a conspiracy by a section of pro-Communist Party of India (Marxist) staff union and teachers and a section of the Syndicate.

The moves against the Registrar were not only illegal and unethical but were also amounted to bringing university activities to a halt, they said. KUDF patron and former university Syndicate member M.A.H. Khan and Babu Chathoth of Kannur University Staff Organisation said the Syndicate decision with a dissent by Vice-Chancellor P. Chandramohan to serve show cause-notice on Mr. Rasheed why he should not be dismissed from service had been taken at its last meeting where the Syndicate should have declared his probation on the basis of the Vice-Chancellor's confidential report presented at that meeting.

Service rule

As per the Kannur University statutes and those of other universities in the State as well as the service rules, probation of a staff should have been declared on completion of one-year probation period. The probationer should be informed of valid and lawful reasons, if any, for extending the probation period or terminating his/her service, they said adding that this had not happened in the case of Mr. Rasheed who had completed one year and four months in service.

Accusing the Syndicate of behaving like feudal overlords towards university employees, they said that this `anti-worker' approach of the Syndicate was crude in the backdrop of the fact that the confidential report presented by the Vice-Chancellor at the Syndicate meeting contained no adverse remarks against Mr. Rasheed. The KUDF would resort to agitation against this `illegal' decision of the Syndicate, they said. Mr. Khan and Mr. Chathoth demanded that the Governor, who is Chancellor of the university, intervene to remove the Syndicate decision from university documents if the Syndicate was not ready to correct its `misuse' of power in the matter. The KUDF demanded that a section of the Syndicate members and university staff who had turned against the Registrar with a personal grudge should be charged with criminal conspiracy and misuse of power.

Show-cause notice

The KUDF leaders also flaunted copies of documents to show that the allegations levelled against the Registrar in the show-cause notice were baseless.

The allegations were that the Registrar had tampered with minutes of the Syndicate meeting, gone to perform Haj without applying for leave and that he was doing research in the university.

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