Thiruvananthapuram/Kochi: Vincent Panikulangara, a lawyer who had moved the court against N. Narayanan Nair, the former principal of the Law Academy, becoming a member of the syndicate of the Kerala University, in the early 1980s, on Sunday said the Academy did not even have an affiliation. However, former syndicate member R. S. Sasikumar said the minutes of Kerala University syndicate of 1968 had clearly stated otherwise. The records were later went missing from the university office.
"This would have been deliberately done by the Academy management to safeguard their vested interests," Mr Sasikumar said. Mr Panikulangara said that neither the KU nor the Academy produced a single document to show that it was affiliated during the hearing of his case in at the High Court and Supreme Court.
“In the HC the case was heard by single and division benches. But not a single document was produced to prove the affiliation. The same was the case in the SC,” he said. “I had challenged Mr Nair being a member representing principals of private colleges. My contention was he was not qualified under the category as the Law Academy had no affiliation.”
He could not, however, recollect the exact dates connected with the conduct of the case. “It was in the early 1980s, a period when mark-sheet and other scandals rocked it,” he said. However, Mr Sasikumar said the university had recorded about the file submitted to its standing counsel. "There were no records of them afterwards," he said. The college which had a temporary affiliation from 1968 was made permanent in 1996. The university does not have the power to remove its principal since it is a self-financing professional college.
They could, however, withdraw the affiliation after giving a show cause notice. This would not affect the prospects of the students studying in the college as the cancellation of affiliation can be made applicable for the admissions for the next year. This clause had been issued to the P.A. Aziz College of Engineering, Karakulam, following issues within the management in 2014. This had ensured that the students who have been already admitted continued their studies until the end of their course, Mr Sasikumar said.
