Kochi: 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.
While the Congress and BJP welcomed the verdict, the CPM 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.
