Vice-chancellors of seven Kerala universities have moved the high court on Wednesday seeking direction to cancel the chancellor’s show cause notice against their continuance in office.

Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who is the chancellor of state universities, had on October 24 served show cause notices to nine vice-chancellors for not following his orders to submit their resignations by 11.30am that day. The pleas came with just a day to go for sending their responses to the notice.

The single bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran on Wednesday sought counter-petitions, if any, from the counsel for the chancellor and posted the matter for Thursday before the deadline to respond to the show cause notice expires.

The governor had cited non-compliance of UGC norms in the appointments of the vice-chancellors, in an open battle with the Left Democratic Front government.

His orders were based on the Supreme Court judgment on October 21 that set aside the appointment of M.S. Rajasree, vice-chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, for not complying with UGC regulations.

Kerala High Court had on October 24 given temporary relief to eight of the vice-chancellors, who had moved the court against the chancellor’s diktat seeking their resignation, by asking them to remain in office until they are removed in keeping with law.

In a special hearing in spite of Diwali holiday, the court had observed that the governor’s order seeking their resignations had lost relevance on account of the show cause notice.

While the state government has not yet appointed an interim vice-chancellor for the university, Mohanan Kunnummel, vice-chancellor of Kerala University of Health Sciences has since been given additional charge of Kerala University until a fresh appointment is made. Kerala University vice-chancellor V.P. Mahadevan Pillai had recently retired, but is among the seven petitioners since he too was served a show cause notice.

In another case related to the Kerala University, the court extended the stay on the removal of 15 senate committee members. The governor had removed the senate committee members on October 15 as they refused to send in their nomination for the search and selection committee for a new vice-chancellor. The high court that had then given them interim relief, will hear the matter again on Tuesday.

Sources said the governor had sought legal opinion on recovering the salaries paid to the vice-chancellors who were allegedly appointed by flouting UGC norms. Although some of the appointments were made by him, Khan had recently accused the state government of providing just one name instead of the three mandated by the UGC.

The governor has been engaged in an open battle with the Left Democratic Front government ever since he assumed charge in 2019. The tussle had intensified with the state government putting its foot down and questioning the powers and duties of the governor.

Khan had last week written to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking the removal of finance minister K.N. Balagopal who had compared the law and order situation in universities in Uttar Pradesh and said those who come from such places would not understand how universities work in Kerala. While he had not taken any name, the governor saw it as an affront to national unity and sought his removal from the cabinet. Vijayan promptly rejected the governor’s direction.