The Kerala High Court on Monday restrained Kannur University from making appointments from a provisional rank list prepared for the post of Malayalam associate professor that included Priya Varghese, wife of K.K. Ragesh, private secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Justice Devan Ramachandran, while passing the order, also issued notice to Ms. Varghese.
When a petition challenging the university’s decision to appoint Ms. Varghese came up for hearing, the court ordered that no appointments be made from the provisional rank list till the next date of hearing of the petition. The court posted the petition to August 31 for further hearing.
The court also recorded the submission of the university’s counsel that no appointment had been made from the rank list, as a few proceedings were pending before the Chancellor.
The petition was filed by Joseph Skariah, assistant professor in the Department of Malayalam at St. Berchmans College, Changanassery, who came second on the rank list.
The petition sought a directive to the selection committee to rework the rank list after removing Ms. Varghese, as she was ineligible to be appointed to the post. Merit was bypassed while undertaking the process of selection of candidates. Ms. Varghese was not qualified for the post as she did not have the requisite teaching experience, the petitioner said.
He contended that the selection committee had unduly favoured Ms. Varghese. While the petitioner, who has a research score of 651, was awarded seven marks out of 10 for research, Ms. Varghese, who has a research score of 156, was given six marks. Another candidate, Muhammed Rafi, who has a research score of 346, was given only three marks.
The marks awarded to Ms. Varghese were in violation of the University Grants Commission regulations. She had been given undue consideration in the interview as well, according to the petitioner.
Regarding marks awarded against publications other than research papers, the petitioner pointed out that Ms. Varghese had only 18 marks for books written by her, while the petitioner had 147 marks. But both were given seven marks each out of 10.
In the category of teaching ability, the petitioner had teaching experience of 13 years, three months, and eight days. However, the petitioner was awarded only five marks, while Ms. Varghese, with a teaching experience of nine years, seven months, and two days, was given seven marks. In the interview, the petitioner was awarded 30 marks, while Ms. Varghese got 32 marks.
The petitioner sought a directive to the varsity Syndicate to reconsider the rank list after excluding Ms. Varghese from the list.
