Kerala High Court refuses to stay Governor's nominations to Kerala University Senate

The Kerala High Court today refused to stay student nominations made earlier this year by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan to the Senate of the Kerala University, of which he is the Chancellor [Nanda Kishore & anr v The Chancellor & ors and connected case]..Justice Ziyad Rahman AA found no prima facie reason to interfere with the nominations since they were made from the list of names suggested to the Chancellor by the Vice Chancellor of the University."Even though the counsel appearing for the petitioners pressed for an interim order ... after careful perusal, prima facie, I do not find any reasons to interfere with the nomination at present ... It is seen from the records that all the persons nominated were included in the panel of candidates forwarded by the VC of the university. In such circumstances, I do not find any necessity to pass an interim order in this case," the Court said..The Court was considering two petitions by various students challenging revised student nominations made by the Chancellor to the Kerala University Senate.One petition has been filed by Nanda Kishore and MS Shahanas challenging the Governor's nomination of GR Nandana and R Ramanand to the University Senate.The second petition has been filed by Arnunima Ashok, Kavya TS, Athul Mohan, and Krishna Priya S challenging the Governor's nomination of Devi Aparna, and Krishnapriya R.The petitioners have alleged that these student nominees are not as meritorious as the petitioners..Notably, three of the petitioners, namely Nanda Kishore, Arunima Ashok and Kavya TS, had filed a similar challenge earlier as well to nominations made in 2023 by the Chancellor to the University's senate.Arif Khan's 2023 decision to nominate Abhishek D Nair, Dhruvin SL, Malavika Udayan and Sudhi Sadan to the Senate drew controversy over allegations that some of these nominees were picked due to their affiliation with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).Two writ petitions were, therefore, filed before the High Court by four students who questioned whether the nominees possessed the outstanding qualities required of them.On May 21 this year, the High Court set aside these nominations and asked the Chancellor to make fresh nominations within six weeks after considering the claims of the petitioners.However, the revised nominations have also now been challenged by the petitioners on allegations that the Chancellor did not consider their merits before nominating four other students. In their plea, they added that when the Chancellor invokes statutory powers to make nominations, the process should be fair and reasonable and in the best interest of the university and its Senate.The Court had issued notice in the matter on July 12. The case will be heard after three weeks. .The student petitioners were represented by senior advocate Elvin Peter along with advocates KR Ganesh, Gouri Balagopal, Sreelakshmi AS and advocates MA Asif and Anwin John Antony.Standing counsel S Prashant represented the University Chancellor (Kerala Governor).Standing counsel Thomas Abraham represented the Kerala University.Advocates RV Sreejith, TC Krishna, C Dinesh and Suvin R Menon appeared for the student nominees whose nominations are under challenge.