A student agitation demanding the resignation of the principal of Kerala Law Academy Law College in Thiruvananthapuram has now snowballed into a major political controversy in Kerala. With opposition political parties joining hands with the students, the demand is now for the takeover of the Academy by the government. This has put the CPM-led Left Democratic Front in a fix, since the government has been dragging its feet over the issue for the past 25 days.
While the students are sticking to their guns over the demand for principal Dr Lakshmi Nair’s resignation, major opposition parties like the Congress and BJP are now demanding that the Academy be turned into a government-run one. The Law Academy is the first private law college in the state started by Lakshmi Nair’s father Narayanan Nair, a known sympathiser of the CPI. However, CPI, which is a constituent of the LDF, too wants the principal to go, though they have not specified their stand on the takeover of the Academy by the government. In the government the education portfolio is held by the CPI nominee E. Chandrashekharan, himself a known educationist.
The students have raised grave allegations against the principal. These include physical and mental torture, intimidation, tyrannical functioning and blatant favouritism to the upper castes. They had said that the principal was misusing her powers when it comes to allocation of internal marks and attendance that are crucial for good academic results. A sub-committee constituted by the Kerala University Syndicate to look into the allegations had confirmed the student complaints. The Syndicate then decided to debar Dr Lakshmi Nair from conducting examinations for five years. However, this was not acceptable to the students. Later, a sort of agreement brokered by the Students’ Federation of India, owing allegiance to CPM, did not cut much ice with the rest of the student community. Though subsequently the SFI has withdrawn from the agitation, the rest of the students belonging to All India Students’ Federation (AISF) of the CPI, the RSS-backed Akhil BharatiyaVidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Kerala Students’ Union (KSU) of the Congress and Indian Union Muslim League’s Muslim Students Federation (MSF) are continuing their indefinite strike. They have termed the SFI-management agreement of “removing” the principal from the post for five years a pre-written script and a face-saving formula.
But the students’ agitation has opened up a whole gamut of issues surrounding the functioning of the Academy, including misappropriation of land, with opposition Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party joining the fray. Two leaders, state BJP secretary V.V. Rajesh and local MLA and Congress leader K. Muraleedharan are on indefinite fast. Rajesh had replaced former BJP state president V. Muraleedharan, who had to be shifted to hospital following his failing health. Now that veteran CPM leader V.S. Achuthanandan too has come out demanding that the excess land allotted to the Academy be taken back, the government has been forced to take action. The revenue ministry, also held by the CPI, is looking into the matter.
While the students are sticking to their guns over the demand for principal Dr Lakshmi Nair’s resignation, major opposition parties like the Congress and BJP are now demanding that the Academy be turned into a government-run one.
The Academy started by N. Narayanan Nair has a chequered history. It was in 1968 during the second E.M.S. Naboodiripad government that 11.49 acres of prime land in Thiruvananthapuram were given on lease to the Law Academy without fixing any specific rental norms. When the then opposition alleged that the Academy Trust was headed by a CPI cardholder, N. Narayanan Nair, the then agriculture minister, the late M.N. Govindan Nair, a CPI stalwart himself, cleared the doubts by saying the Law Academy does not belong to one individual. Its chief patron was the Governor, Chief Minister the patron, Revenue, Education Ministers and three high court judges besides eminent personalities were members of the Trust. Indeed they were. As per the bylaw of the Academy, legal luminaries of the time such as V.R. Krishna Iyer, Subramanian Potti, Kalathil Velayudhan Nair, Law and Education Minister, Advocate General and Kerala University VC were chairmen of the Trust. Secretaries of the various ministries held the post of vice chairmen.
But over the years, all these were manipulated and brought under the control of one family. Today the Trust is controlled by a board of which the director is Narayanan Nair. Prominent members include his brother and CPM State Committee member and former MLA Kolliyakkode Krishnan Nair, son Nagarajan, son-in-law Aajayakrishnan, sister’s son and Legislative Secretary with the LDF government, N.K. Jayakumar. The controversial principal of the Academy, who is in the eye of the storm, Dr Lakshmi Nair, is none other than Narayanan Nair’s daughter. In case of any change in the nature of the ownership of the Academy, it is legally bound to inform the university authorities. It has come to light that no such record exists with Kerala University. Also, there are doubts over the Academy’s affiliation to the University.
Graver is the case with land holding. The state government’s Revenue Department has no record on the lease of property to the Trust. Though it was the EMS government that sanctioned the lease, the actual land deed was done during the K. Karunakaran-led Congress regime of 1982-87. At that time, P.J. Joseph of the Kerala Congress was the Revenue Minister. Incidentally, those in the know of things of that time say that Naryanan Nair’s wife Ponnamma had by that time become the president of the women’s wing of the Joseph faction. No one knows who masterminded this vanishing trick of vital land transfer records.
The result is that today the land belongs to Narayanan Nair and family. The college occupies only three acres of land, with the rest of the property used by the family for other purposes. Lakshmi Nair, who is also known for her culinary abilities and conducts a popular cookery show on CPM-owned TV channel Kairali, has opened a catering joint within the complex. Interestingly, Kairali channel is headed by John Brittas, who happens to be the media advisor to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and is an alumnus of the Academy. One of the allegations against Lakshmi Nair is that she used girl students of the hostel to do manual labour at her catering unit. Those who refused, would have to pay a price as their internal marks and attendance would be cut.
The Syndicate is meeting again on Monday to review the situation. But the government by its dithering has allowed the situation to go out of hand. Now it is clear that the controversy surrounding the prestigious Law Academy may not end with the resignation of principal Dr Lakshmi Nair alone.