Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan, using his powers as chancellor of the universities in the state, on Thursday, appointed Prof (Dr) Ciza Thomas as Vice Chancellor of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University here pending appointment of a regular VC.

The governor made the appointment of Thomas, who is senior joint director of the Directorate of Technical Education, as VC by rejecting the Left government’s recommendation to hand over the responsibility to state higher education principal secretary Ishita Roy IAS till a regular VC is appointed to the top post of the Technological University, official sources said.

In a notification issued this evening, the Raj Bhavan said Thomas shall exercise the powers and perform the duties of the VC Technological University with immediate effect, in addition to her normal duties, until further orders.

The measure was necessitated following a recent Supreme Court order quashing the appointment of Dr Rajasree MS as the Vice-Chancellor of University, terming it bad in law and contrary to UGC regulations.

In its order last month, the SC had said, as per University Grants Commission (UGC), the search committee constituted by the state must have recommended a panel of not less than three suitable persons among eminent people in the field of engineering science to the chancellor but instead it sent only the name of Dr Rajasree MS. Armed with the apex court order, the Governor recently sought resignations of VCs of nine varsities in the state, kicking up a political as well as legal battle in the southern state.