Even as the wait for the reconstitution of its Syndicate by the United Democratic Front (UDF) government continues, the Mahatma Gandhi University has slipped into administrative paralysis, with the prolonged absence of Syndicate meetings threatening to bring its academic and administrative machinery to a virtual standstill.

According to Syndicate members, it has been more than two months since the Syndicate, the university’s highest executive body, last met. University records show that the last regular meeting was held on May 20, followed by a special sitting on May 25 to consider the conferment of honorary D.Litt. degrees on eminent personalities, including actor Mammootty.

Files pending

Under the university statutes, the Syndicate is required to meet at least once every two months. However, with no meeting convened since then, files relating to hundreds of students have remained pending, while matters requiring Syndicate approval continue to pile up.

Among the proposals awaiting clearance are the appointments of principals to affiliated colleges, nominations to statutory academic bodies, and several administrative and financial decisions that cannot be implemented without the Syndicate’s approval.

“The university has not even been able to issue certificates to PhD scholars who have successfully completed their open defence because the Syndicate’s approval is pending,” said a Syndicate member. “Several other administrative decisions, including the release of funds for various academic programmes and proposals submitted by the 10 Syndicate sub-committees, are also awaiting approval,” the member added.

Syndicate members said an earlier request to the Vice-Chancellor to convene the meeting had failed to evoke any response. They also alleged that the meeting of the academic council, another key statutory body mandated to meet once every six months, has also been indefinitely delayed at the Vice-Chancellor’s intervention.

Multiple attempts to contact the Vice-Chancellor for his response to the allegations remained unsuccessful.

UDF sources, meanwhile, said the government was expected to announce a new panel of Syndicate members for the university within a day or two. “The list has been almost finalised. If not today, it will be out at least by Monday,” said a source.

Row escalates

The latest controversy comes even as the Vice-Chancellor finds himself locked in an escalating confrontation with a section of the University’s employees.

On Saturday (July 25, 2026), members of the Left-backed Mahatma Gandhi University Employees Association staged a protest on the campus, accusing the Vice-Chancellor of using large-scale inter-departmental transfers to target employees affiliated with the union. The demonstration followed an order issued on Friday transferring more than 20 members of the administrative staff.

“The transfer and posting of MGU administrative staff have traditionally been the prerogative of the Registrar. However, the new Vice-Chancellor, backed by the Sangh Parivar, is attempting to override the established system through unwarranted interventions,” an office-bearer of the association alleged.

To buttress his argument, the official also cited the appointment of an employee currently pursuing litigation against the university over a promotion dispute as the head of the university’s legal wing. “This amounts to a clear conflict of interest,” he said.

Published - July 25, 2026 06:50 pm IST