Kochi: Quashing a notification the University of Kerala had issued in 2017, the High Court cancelled the appointments of 58 teachers in the university.
The notification, issued on November 27, 2017, had clubbed vacancies of professor, associate professor and assistant professor in different departments into a single unit, and brought it under the reservation norm.
Justice Amit Rawal quashed the notification based on petitions by job applicants Dr G Radhakrishna Pillai and Dr T Vijalakshmi, and the Society for Social Surveillance.
The petitioners submitted that the clubbing of vacancies had resulted in each subject being reserved for a particular community.
Justice Rawal observed that the single-unit system would lead to 100 per cent reservation in case of only one vacancy. It was also pointed out that clubbing vacancies from various departments as a single unit was against a Supreme Court order.
Petitions challenging similar appointments in Kannur, Calicut and Kalady universities are also under the consideration of the High Court.