A special Senate meeting of the University of Kerala ended in chaos on Thursday with Vice-Chancellor (V-C) in-charge Mohanan Kunnummal reportedly walking out of the meeting minutes after it began amid protests by Left-backed Senate members.The meeting witnessed strong protests by Left-backed members against the “anti-democratic” actions of the V-C, particularly the replacement of the university’s standing counsel in the High Court. They shouted slogans and carried placards, urging the V-C to follow university rules.The agenda of the special Senate was approval of degrees to be awarded to students. The meeting had reportedly been convened after it came to the V-C’s attention that the visa of nearly 50 students from abroad would expire soon.Senate members Shiju Khan and G. Muraleedharan said the situation in the university was highly irregular and concerning. The V-C did not convene regular Senate, Syndicate, and academic council meetings. “After four months, he convened a special Senate. In fact, a regular Senate should have been convened,” Mr. Muraleedharan said.The V-C had been dragging his feet on awarding PhD to a Dalit student of KU, though the Syndicate and Senate had passed a resolution on it, Mr. Muraleedharan alleged.When the Sentate members asked the V-C about a date for a meeting of the Syndicate, which had last met 98 days ago, the V-C did not reply and instead walked out, he said.However, the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)-backed Senate members demanded that the Left-backed Senate and Syndicate members apologise to students for disrupting the Senate meeting. They had adopted a confrontational stand, which would have an impact on higher studies and emploment opportunities of thousands of students in the country and abroad. The planned disruption of Senate and Syndicate meetings had become a regular affair, the BJP-backed Senate member alleged, adding that this was unacceptable.Meanwhile, Thomas Abraham whose removal by the V-C as the university’s standing counsel in the High Court kicked up a storm has resigned. The resignation letter, reportedly submitted to the Registrar, comes in the wake of Prof. Kunnummal issuing an order appointing Girija Gopal as standing counsel.Mr. Thomas had argued that only the Syndicate had the authority to appoint or replace the standing counsel.However, the High Court, on a petition by a Left-backed Syndicate member, declined to stay the V-C’s order, leading to the resignation of Mr. Thomas.Mr. Thomas has also been asked to hand over university case files to Ms. Gopal. Published - July 02, 2026 07:49 pm IST