Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Chandy decries ‘vindictive action’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy on Friday lashed out at the Left Democratic Front (LDF) for the government’s “vindictive action” against Sanskrit University Vice-Chancellor K.S. Radhakrishnan.

In a strongly-worded letter to Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, Mr. Chandy said Dr. Radhakrishnan had to resort to the extra-ordinary action of submitting a complaint to the Education Minister against constant harassment by the CPI(M) and the government. He alleged that the CPI(M) leadership had incited its students, teachers and youth organisations to organise an agitation against the Vice-Chancellor with the tacit support of fellow Left travellers.

Mr. Chandy took strong exception to the Education Department’s refusal to permit Dr. Radhakrishnan to attend the International Philosophy Congress in Seoul, slapping of Vigilance cases against him and the delay in processing his voluntary retirement papers. He said the Union government had included the Vice-Chancellor as a delegate for the International Congress and would meet the full cost for this. The Opposition leader wanted to know the reason why the Vice-Chancellor’s request had not been considered and why the file relating to his permission for travel had been stalled in the Minister’s office.

He said the LDF government, which had taken strong exception to Parliamentary Affairs and Sports Minister Minister M. Vijay Kumar being denied permission to attend the Beijing Olympics, had no justification in denying permission to Dr. Radhakrishnan who had been cleared by the Centre for travel. Mr. Chandy said the State government’s decision to order a Vigilance probe against the Vice-Chancellor also could not be justified because the powers to purchase movable and immovable properties was vested with the varsity Syndicate and it was totally unjust to isolate the Vice-Chancellor.

Mr. Chandy said Dr. Radhakrishnan’s application for voluntary retirement had been held up in the Education Minister’s office for the last nine months. He wanted to know whether the file was being held up to deny the VC his pension benefits. The UDF government had established the varsity with clear objectives in 1994. By 1996, the student enrolment peaked at 8,000. But after the terms of two Vice-Chancellors appointed by the previous LDF government, the enrolment dropped to just 1,000. Dr. Radhakrishnan had introduced 10 new courses that improved enrolment to 3,000. He said it was unfortunate that the LDF government did not adopt a policy of allowing Vice-Chancellors appointed by the UDF government to function smoothly. He urged the Chief Minister to examine Dr. Radhakrishnan’s complaint.

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