T’puram: The first meeting of the revamped syndicate of Kerala University on Tuesday decided to cut down the number of syndicate standing committees to seven from existing 10. Following the decision, CPM will not have a standing committee convener for the first time in the university’s history.UDF govt recently nominated six members to the university syndicate. The fresh nomination resulted in a power shift from LDF to UDF. Now the UDF has seven members, CPM has six and BJP has two members in the syndicate. Apart from this, there are four govt nominees. As per the university rules, only finance and staff standing committees are mandatory. The rest of the committees can be constituted only if the syndicate finds it necessary. Accordingly, the syndicate decided to amalgamate the existing three committees – planning, disciplinary, student service – into other seven committees led by UDF members.Coveners of the standing committees are R S Sasikumar (finance), S Prema (staff, planning), Ciby C Mathew (Teaching and non-teaching staff, student discipline), Y Ahmad Fazil (examinations), Ajay Juwel Kuriakose (college affiliation, student services), V Naushad (research), Anilkumar (UIT, teacher education centre) VC Mohanan Kunnummel chaired the meeting.UDF members stated that they would move toward better governance while safeguarding the university’s academic interests. The syndicate will meet on Thursday and Friday to clear hundreds of pending agendas.Although CPM members protested both the denial of convener posts and the reduction in the number of committees, their demand was put to a vote and defeated.
