Calicut varsity panel to study HC order ahead of polls

Focus on voting rights of university union councillors in self-financing colleges

The authorities at the University of Calicut are expected to hold detailed talks on the implications of a Kerala High Court verdict on the voting rights of university union councillors (UUC) in self-financing colleges ahead of holding students’ union polls in affiliated colleges in February-end.

The court in February 2020 had struck down an amendment made by the Syndicate to the university union election bylaws after a section of UUCs from self-financing colleges claimed in a petition that it curtailed their right to choose university union functionaries. A Syndicate sub-committee involving Tom K. Thomas, Shamsad Hussain, and K.P. Vinod Kumar has been formed now to discuss the implications of the court order, as also to hold talks with various student organisations.

The Syndicate had in December 2019 amended the election bylaws to carve out an executive council from the general council of the university union. Only members of this council were given voting rights to pick university union functionaries. All the UUCs from aided and government colleges, university departments, and university study centres were to be its members. Only one-third of the UUCs from self-financing colleges, however, were made part of it.