Kochi, Coming as a relief for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, a division bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday upheld a single bench verdict in the re-appointment of Kannur Vice-Chancellor Gopinath Ravindran.

In December, a single bench of the court had dismissed the same plea filed by Kannur University senate member K. Premachandran and another person following which, the petitioners approached the division bench.

They alleged bending of rules for re-appointing Ravindran.

Soon after the bench upheld the earlier verdict, the petitioners have decided to approach the Supreme Court.

The fresh verdict has come as a relief for Vijayan, who has been under severe attack from several quarters, including Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, who after signing the re-appointment order, had backtracked, saying that his "hands were tied and now he regrets the decision". He even went public stating that he (Khan) no longer desires to continue as the Chancellor.

The Congress and the BJP had demanded the resignation of State Higher Education Minister R. Bindhu after two of her letters to Khan seeking re-appointment of Ravindran as Chancellor, surfaced.