Cusat authorities may seek EC’s opinion on last-minute nomination to Syndicate

Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) may seek the opinion of the Election Commission on whether to implement an order nominating two persons to the Syndicate issued by the Department of Higher Education a few minutes before the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the Kerala Assembly elections came into effect.

The order nominating Vinod Kumar Jacob, Professor, Mar Athanasius College of Engineering, Kothamangalam, and Prof. M. Kailasnath, Director, International School of Photonics, Cochin University of Science and Technology, was issued at 3.52 p.m on March 15. It was immediately mailed to the Cusat authorities. As per norms, the Vice-Chancellor has to issue an order quoting the decision taken by the Department of Higher Education.

The university authorities pointed out that the implementation of the government order involved a process, and that they did not want to act in haste as the MCC came into effect after the Election Commission announced the 2026 Assembly elections on March 15. “Though we had received legal opinion that there were no hurdles in ratifying it, we have decided to seek the opinion of the Commission authorities,” they said. The vacancies in the Syndicate had emerged following the resignation of K.K. Krishnakumar and Sasi Gopalan.

The Save University Campaign Committee (SUCC) alleged that the Department of Higher Education acted in haste by nominating two persons to the Syndicate minutes before the MCC came into force. “The varsity authorities will invite proceedings under the violation of the MCC if they go ahead with the implementation of the order,” according to R.S. Sasikumar, chairman of the SUCC. The university authorities stated that the order was likely to be implemented after the polling on April 9.