Kerala govt removes Governor as Chancellor of Kalamandalam varsity amid major row

Thiruvananthapuram: The state government of Kerala withdrew Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan from his position as chancellor of the Kerala Kalamandalam deemed university on Thursday, a day after a severe escalation in the conflict between the two sides.

The state administration declared that it will alter the university's policies so that Mr Khan would be replaced by a distinguished figure in the fields of art and culture.

The governor, who represents the BJP-led central government, is well known for his many conflicts with the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in the state, NDTV reported.

The governor and the state administration have been at odds increasingly about how colleges operate, particularly the choice of vice-chancellors.

The Kerala administration stated a day ago that it would issue a special order to replace the governor with prominent academicians as university chiefs, a move that has drawn criticism from both the Congress and the BJP.

The deemed university's management structure and governance system must abide by the decisions made by the state government, according to the Kerala Kalamandalam's updated rules.

The new rules define "chancellor" as one "appointed by the sponsoring body" and that "the chancellor shall be an eminent person in the field of art and culture".

The regulation governing the chancellor's tenure was also amended, and the revision stipulates a five-year tenure with the potential for a second term.

Aside from Kerala, tensions between the governors and governments of the two other southern states not controlled by the BJP reached a fever pitch on Wednesday when Tamil Nadu demanded the recall of RN Ravi, and Tamilisai Soundararajan questioned whether her phone had been tapped in Telangana.