The Kerala High Court is set to hold a special sitting on Monday at 4 pm amid row over Governor Arif Mohammad Khan's order to vice-chancellors of nine universities to quit, according to media reports.

The direction by the Kerala Governor - which was issued citing a Supreme Court order - has sparked a major row in the southern state with the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) saying on Sunday it would hold demonstrations against it. The vice-chancellors have now moved the high court against the order.

On Monday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan held a presser, asking the VCs to not quit. The governor, Vijayan said, has "no authority to ask vice chancellors to resign". He further said that the accountability of the discrepancies in the appointments - if any - lies with the governor.

"It was the governor who appointed them, and the responsibility of illegality in appointment - if there are any - also lies with him," the chief minister said, reports PTI. Calling the governor's move "unusual", Vijayan accused him of "waging a war" with an intention to "destroy universities" in the state.

On Sunday, the Kerala Governor had issued directions, asking the vice chancellors of nine universities - University of Kerala, Mahatma Gandhi University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kannur University, APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, Shree Shankaracharya University of Sanskrit, University of Calicut and Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University - to quit by 11:30 am on Monday.

In a statement posted on Twitter by his office, a Supreme Court order on cancellation of appointment of the vice chancellor of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University - for being contrary to University Grants Commission regulations - was cited.

While the state's higher education minister R Bindu said that "an unfortunate situation" had been created, law minister P Rajeev stepped up attack saying that nowhere in any UGC regulation or in the Constitution, it mentioned that the Chancellor should be the Governor.

Meanwhile, leader of opposition VD Satheesan welcomed the move: "I welcome the fact that the Governor is ready to correct the mistake he made by cooperating with the illegal appointments of the Pinarayi government. The Governor's decision has come as a setback to the government's move to appoint vice-chancellors in defiance of UGC norms and procedures."