Kerala HC allows plea against proposed appointment of CM secy's wife in Kannur varsity

In yet another setback for the Left government in its tussle with Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on functioning of universities, the Kerala High Court on Thursday allowed a petition against the proposed appointment of the wife of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's private secretary as a Malayalam associate professor in Kannur University.

The court decision comes as a blow to the ruling LDF as it was critical of Khan's decision as Chancellor to put on hold the proposed appointment of Priya Varghese, the wife of K K Ragesh who is the CM's private secretary, on the ground that it was ''political''.

It is the second setback for the Left front this month as a recent High Court order had quashed the appointment of the Vice Chancellor of KUFOS, for violation of UGC regulations in the selection process, who had been asked to resign by the Governor for the same reason.

In both matters, the High Court held that there has been non-adherence to UGC regulations in the appointment process.

In the case of Varghese' proposed appointment, Justice Devan Ramachandran said she did not have the relevant period of actual teaching experience as stipulated under the University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulations of 2018.

The court said that her periods of service as NSS Coordinator or Director of Student Services (DSS) in the Kannur university and time spent engaged in research would go towards her promotion and growth as a good teacher, ''but that by itself would not be sufficient in the absence of requisite experience in teaching''.

''The experience of teaching as specified in the UGC Regulations has to be actual teaching experience and not something which can be inferred or construed either by operation of law or on the strength of executive orders or circulars.

''Teaching experience can only be a real fact and not a fiction or an inference. To paraphrase, unless a candidate is able to show real experience in teaching, as required by UGC Regulations of 2018, he or she could not have had their applications approved by the scrutinizing committee of the university,'' the court said.

It directed the competent authority to reconsider the credentials of Varghese and decide if she should be in the ranked list.

''On such an inquiry being completed and the rank list being sufficiently modified, further action to make appointments can be taken,'' the court said.

While the Congress and BJP welcomed the verdict, the CPI(M) said the decision would have long term adverse impacts on calculation of service periods for promotions, etc and would give rise to a lot of misinterpretations.

Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan alleged that relatives and favourites of party members were being appointed through the back door by throwing all laws and regulations to the wind and asked whether the ruling Left was even ashamed of such actions.

''We welcome the high court decision. All those who have been appointed through the back door should resign in view of the verdict,'' he said.

BJP state president K Surendran said that ''the verdict is a slap in the face of the CM and the Left government''.

Senior CPI(M) leader M V Jayarajan, on the other hand, was of the view that the verdict will give rise to problems regarding calculation of service period as there would be doubts whether time spent on academic deputation, PhD studies and even maternity leave by women would be considered at the time of promotion.

''It will have long term adverse impacts. Will give rise to unwanted interpretations. It is also a challenge to the rights of women,'' he contended.

State Higher Education Minister R Bindu said the high court order was binding and it was up to the Kannur University to decide the next course of action and the state government had no role as it had not interfered in the matter.

Meanwhile, Varghese told reporters that she respects the high court judgement and will decide what to do next after discussions with legal experts.

Joseph Skaria, who came second to Varghese in the university mark list and on whose plea the order came, told media that it was not just his win alone.

''There was a need to question, to interfere in the politically motivated appointments in Kerala universities,'' he said.

In his plea, he had contended that Varghese lacked the requisite teaching experience as stipulated in the UGC regulations for being appointed as an associate professor.

Justice Ramachandran observed, in the order dictated in open court, that some of the various spells of teaching experience claimed by Varghese ''cannot find favour in law''.

The court said that Varghese had claimed that as she continued as a teacher, during her stints as NSS coordinator and DSS, as the term is described in the statute or university Act, her achievements must be construed as teaching experience even though she was not engaged in such activities.

''This is precisely what UGC prohibits. They have vehemently stipulated that a person ought to have had real teaching experience so as to maintain the excellent standing and integrity of the higher education system.

''The position of associate professor being extremely important and vital in the scheme of things, it was certainly justified for UGC to provide that only a person with requisite actual teaching experience could go to that stage,'' the court said.

Varghese' proposed appointment had triggered a huge political row as she had the lowest research score but the highest in the interview round and was declared first in the selection process.

Khan, in his capacity as Chancellor of universities in the state, had stayed her appointment and alleged that Kannur University's move to appoint her was ''political''.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)