Kannur University Row: Kerala HC allows plea against appointment of Priya Varghese
Kerala HC said CM secretary's wife, Priya Varghese lacks relevant teaching experience as per UGC Regulations, 2018 to be appointed as associate professor.
Press Trust of India | November 17, 2022 | 04:57 PM IST
KOCHI: 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.
Justice Devan Ramachandran said the candidate in question - Priya Varghese -- did not have the relevant period of actual teaching experience as stipulated under the University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulations of 2018. "Teaching experience can only be a real fact and not a fiction or an inference. It has to be actual and cannot be construed or inferred," the court said and observed that some of the various spells of teaching experience claimed by Varghese "cannot find favour in law".
Also Read | Kerala HC accepts plea against appointment of Kerala Technical University vice chancellor in-charge
It directed the competent authority to reconsider the credentials of Varghese and decide if she should be in the ranked list. "On such enquiry being completed and the rank list being suitably modified, further action to make appointments can be taken," the court said.
Varghese is the wife of K K Ragesh, who is the Chief Minister's private secretary. The order came on a plea filed by one Joseph Skaria who came second to Varghese in the university mark list. Varghese had been proposed to be appointed as an associate professor in the Malayalam Department by the varsity, which 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.
Governor Arif Mohammed 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".
Follow us for the latest education news on colleges and universities, admission, courses, exams, research, education policies, study abroad and more..
To get in touch, write to us at news@careers360.com.
Next Story
]Featured News
]- Lok Sabha Election 2024: Over 50 students, teachers arrested over past 5 years
- Diversity and inclusion ‘all on paper’, writes a transgender activist on experience at work
- ‘This is terrible’: West Bengal teachers who fought recruitment scam dismayed by cancellation
- More women joining engineering with scholarships, affirmative action in admission, placements
- BTech in Marathi: How PCCOE Pune is showing the way
- ‘We hope to admit students from outside Kerala’: CET Trivandrum principal
- IIIT Bangalore plans to launch BTech programmes, says director
- COMEDK UGET ‘model exam’ for engineering colleges: Executive Secretary
- Top IT companies have cut thousands of jobs in past months, reports on headcounts show
- Project to attract foreign students to IITs still a work-in-progress