Suspended Registrar of the Kannur University Balachandran Keezhoth has rejoined duty on Monday afternoon following the High Court Division Bench order upholding a Single Bench judgement setting aside the suspension order issued to him by Vice Chancellor Gopinath Ravindran.
Dr. Keezhoth reached the university headquarters here and rejoined work following the High Court order in an appeal moved by the university against the Single Bench order.
He could not earlier rejoin duty, as the authorities had refused to issue rejoining order saying that the university had moved an appeal in High Court.
When contacted, Prof. Ravindran told The Hindu that orders had been issued now and Dr. Keezhoth rejoined work.
Three counts
“We went into appeal on three counts including a plea for removal of certain very damaging comments in the earlier Single Bench judgement against the Vice Chancellor and the Syndicate,” he said, adding all those comments were expunged in the court judgement on Monday.
The Vice Chancellor also said the High Court allowed the university to go ahead with the inquiry against the Registrar. “We will continue the inquiry,” he added.
Dharna
The Registrar had been placed under suspension for not complying with the Vice Chancellor’s order to submit the list of agitating employees of the university who had staged a dharna on January 15, and also for not initiating disciplinary action against those employees.
The High Court Division Bench, in its order, observed that the Vice Chancellor was merely acting under the dictates of the Syndicate.
The court said that the suspension was totally unwarranted, directing the Vice Chancellor to act fairly to uphold the organisational values.