Kannur: Kannur University has been functioning without a regular registrar -- the chief administrative officer -- for the past four years and five months.
On Saturday, the university's Syndicate, the highest decision-making body, decided to appoint Prof Joby K Jose as the registrar, after a recruitment process marred by very few applicants, a court case, and allegations of favouritism.
"Prof Joby Jose's appointment will be a throwback to the controversy when the university appointed Priya Varghese as an associate professor," said Dr Shino P Jose, president of the Kannur regional committee of Kerala Private College Teachers' Association (KPCTA). The UGC has moved the Supreme Court challenging the appointment of Dr Varghese, wife of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's private secretary K K Ragesh.
The KPCTA alleged Vice Chancellor Prof Gopinath Ravindran had been conspiring from 2020 to make Joby Jose the registrar of the university. He has been the registrar in charge since November 2021. "KPCTA Kannur regional committee will seek the intervention of the Kerala High Court to stop the University from appointing VC's favourite person as the registrar," said Shino Jose, an assistant professor at St Pius X College in Kasaragod's Rajapuram.
Only three applicants for the registrar's post
Though the university did not have a regular registrar from March 8, 2019, it advertised the post only on August 19, 2022.
Only three persons, including Joby Jose, applied for the post. The university's screening committee rejected the other two applications and recommended inviting only Jose for the interview.
It rejected C Praveen's application saying his postgraduate was through distance education, and Dr Jithesh K's application saying he did not have 'university-level' teaching experience and 'no administrative experience in responsible post' in a university or college.
Dr Jithesh, an associate professor of computer science at MG College in Kannur's Iritty, dragged the university to the High Court.
On the direction of the High Court, the university allowed Dr Jithesh to appear for the interview on December 16, 2022.
But in its affidavit, the university told the court that it preferred candidates with 'university-level' teaching experience because college teachers are "not involved in setting up courses, course content, textbooks, reference literature, and question paper".
The university lied to the court, said Shino Jose. "Kannur University had several registrars who were college teachers, and college teachers are part of boards of studies which frames syllabi and recommends textbooks," he said.
Nevertheless, after the interview, Joby Jose was ranked no. 1. With this, the high court closed Jithesh's writ petition on July 31, paving the way for the former's appointment as the registrar.
'University should have renotified the post'
A former registrar of the Central University of Kerala said the ratio of vacancy to candidates invited for an interview should be at least 1:4. "If a job notification did not evoke an adequate response, the university should advertise the post again. It can go ahead with interviewing the lone eligible candidate only after notifying the advertisement three times," he said. "Otherwise, it won't stand the scrutiny of law."
To be sure, the university's statutes that were replaced by the Kannur University Ordinances 1999 required it to shortlist at least five candidates for job interviews.
"That is the old rule. The ordinances do not mandate such a condition," said a staff at the registrar's office.
"It speaks volumes of the university's ability to attract talent if only three persons applied for a top statutory post," said Shino Jose.
How University sways to the politics of the day
Joby Jose, a native of Kottayam, joined St Joseph's College Devagiri in Kozhikode in January 2001. He did not have a PhD then.
After nearly 15 years at Devagiri College, he joined Kannur University's Department of Statistical Sciences as an assistant professor on December 16, 2015. It was a sort of demotion because, by January 2015, he became an associate professor in the college.
Joby Jose's appointment is also an example of how much politics of the day had marred the conduct of the University.
Kannur University notified vacant posts in October 2010, the fag end of V S Achuthanandan-led LDF government, and the syndicate approved the appointments of 24 persons, including Joby Jose.
Before they could be appointed, the state saw a transfer of power, with Oommen Chandy becoming the chief minister. His UDF government reconstituted the syndicate with persons affiliated with the UDF. The new syndicate put on hold all 24 appointments.
The candidates moved the High Court. It took them five years to win a favourable verdict. The university gave them appointment orders in December 2015, the fag end of the Chandy government.
By then Joby Jose became an associate professor at Devagiri College.
Promoted during the probation period
Despite nearly 15 years of experience and having a higher post, Joby Jose joined Kannur University at the entry Academic Level of 10 [Academic Grade Pay (AGP) of Rs 6,000]. In college, he was an associate professor with an AGP of Rs 9,000 (Academic Level 13A1).
While appointing him, the UDF-controlled syndicate added a line to his appointment order that his pay (from the previous job) will not be protected, that is he cannot claim the benefit of his experience.
The appointment order, seen by Onmanorama, cited a 2005 amendment to the Kerala Service Rule which sought to discourage "employees leaving higher posts and accepting lower posts at their own volition but availing the benefit of pay protection envisaged in Rule 37 (b), only to suit their convenience".
But in 2016, the government changed and the LDF returned to power. The new syndicate with Left-leaning members promoted Joby Jose as an associate professor with retrospective effect from the date he joined the university as an assistant professor, that is from December 16, 2015. He was promoted even before he completed his probation period of one year.
Several other faculty members who joined from colleges were also promoted with retrospective effect. "The university did not even bother to form a screening committee to review their applications," said Shino Jose.
An RTI reply revealed that the Kerala State Audit Department (KSAD) objected to the retrospective date of the promotion of Joby Jose as an associate professor.
"Joby Jose's promotion was flagged by AG (Union government's Accountant General) and Local Fund Audit (KSAD) because it was given before his probation was declared. Both agencies suggested remedial measures. He took those corrective steps," a senior university official said.
The promotion was delayed to the date his probation was declared, and he returned to the university around Rs 3 lakh he received as part of his enhanced salary during that period. "That resolved the issue," said the official.
To be sure, the university had also sought clarification from the Kerala government regarding the applicability of granting promotion without successful completion and declaration of probation, according to an RTI document from the university. The government was yet to reply to the university, the RTI reply reveals.
VC went out of the way for Joby Jose
Four years after he became an associate professor, Joby Jose applied for promotion again, claiming he was eligible to become a professor from January 10, 2020, under UGC Regulations 2010. But UGC brought in a new set of Regulations in July 2018.
The 2010 Regulations required a professor candidate to have "experience of guiding" PhD scholars. But the 2018 UGC Regulations removed the ambiguity and explicitly stated that candidates applying for the professor's post should submit "evidence of having successfully guided (a) doctoral candidate".
Joby Jose, after nearly 20 years of teaching experience, had not produced one PhD scholar at the time of applying for promotion, and that was why he claimed promotion under the 2010 Regulations, said Shino Jose.
Nevertheless, Vice Chancellor Prof Gopinath Ravindran formed a committee to verify Dr Jose's Academic Performance Indicator (API) score.
The committee comprised three professors: P T Raveendran, who was the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Director of the Internal Quality Assessment Committee (IQAC), A M Sreedharan, VC's nominee and K Sreejith, Dean, Faculty of Science.
The committee, that met on July 1, 2020, said Joby Jose's application would be accessed by the 2018 UGC Regulations and not by 2010 regulations because he claimed to be eligible for promotion only in January 2020.
The committee then rejected the application and said he "has not produced any documentary evidence of having successfully guided doctoral (a) candidate as on the date of submission of the proposal".
The committee also "advised" Joby Jose to submit a fresh proposal for promotion "as and when he fulfils the eligibility criteria as stipulated in UGC Regulations 2018". Onmanorama reviewed the minutes of the meeting.
But Joby Jose objected to it. In his letters to the Vice Chancellor Prof Ravindran, he said the 2018 Regulations allowed "those faculty members who have already qualified or are likely to qualify shortly under the 2010 Regulations, be considered for promotions under the 2010 Regulations". The option could be exercised only within three years, that is till July 2021, the regulation said.
Experts are divided on 'shortly'. Joby Jose and Vice Chancellor Gopinath Ravindran interpreted 'shortly' as three years. A former pro-VC of Kerala University also said shortly meant 'three years'. But Kannur University's Verification Committee, headed by Pro-VC, begged to differ.
Nevertheless, the VC pushed the API Score Verification Committee to review its decision again. "Usually, the API Score Verification Committee considers a rejected applicant's new proposal only after six months," said Shino Jose.
The committee met again in four weeks on July 29, 2020, but it stuck to its guns. The minutes of the meeting read: "The committee considered and discussed the directions of the Vice Chancellor and arrived at the following conclusions:
"All the observations, conclusions, and recommendations of the committee noted on July 1, 2020, with respect to Dr Jose's proposal for promotion to the post of professor are valid...
"Therefore, the API committee which met on July 29, 2020, holds the same observation, conclusion, and recommendations" which the API committee arrived at on July 1, 2020."
But the Vice-Chancellor and the syndicate tried a third time after Prof Raveendran retired.
The new "Screening cum Evaluation Committee" had the new Pro Vice Chancellor and Director of the Internal Quality Assessment Committee (IQAC) Dr Sabu A as the head.
VC's nominee Prof Sreedharan and Science Dean Prof Sreejith were the other members. This committee met on December 18, 2020, and found Joby Jose eligible to become a professor under UGC Regulations 2010.
However, Science Dean Sreejith recorded his strong dissent to the decision, saying a person who became eligible to become a professor in January 2020 can be assessed only under the 2018 Regulations and not the 2010 Regulations.
On December 21, 2020, three days after the screening committee's positive assessment, Joby Jose's PhD student submitted their thesis. Three months later, on March 16, 2021, the scholar was awarded a PhD degree.
But the selection committee, headed by VC Prof Ravindran, met in February 2021 and made Joby Jose a professor with retrospective effect from December 22, 2020, a day after the student submitted the thesis.
Shino Jose said no other teacher at the university would have got as many chances in such a short period to prove his credentials.
Proposal to amend ordinances skips registrar's post
Kannur University has been making appointments to statutory posts such as registrar, finance officer, and controller of examination as per the Kannur University Ordinances 1999, and not as per UGC Regulations.
Because of the differences in eligibility criteria for these posts, there were differences in pay packages and age of retirement, too.
On September 15, 2020, the syndicate passed a resolution to amend the 1999 ordinances related to the method of recruitment, appointing authority, and scale of pay.
But the VC's proposal sent to the Governor for his assent on September 25, 2020, did not include the Registrar's post, according to an RTI reply received by Shino Jose from Raj Bhavan.
"The proposal had amendments for the posts of Finance Officer, Controller of Examination, Deputy Registrar, and Assistant Registrars but not Registar, the most important of all," he said.
Shino Jose has an explanation.
According to the UGC Regulations, an applicant for the registrar's post should have at least 15 years of experience as an assistant professor in Academic Level 11 (AGP Rs 7,000) and above; or have at least eight years of service in Academic Level 12 (AGP Rs 8,000) and above.
Joby Jose joined the university in December 2015 as an assistant professor at the entry Academic Level of 10 with AGP Rs 6,000.
But he was made an associate professor (AGP Rs 9,000) with retrospective effect from the date he joined the university. So, he would complete eight years in service at a higher pay grade only in December 2023. "When the syndicate took up the proposal to amend the 1999 ordinances in September 2020, Dr Joby Jose did not have the required experience to become a registrar under the UGC Regulations. So they kept the post out of the amendment list," said Shino Jose.
When the Syndicate took up the proposal to amend the 1999 ordinances in September 2020, Dr Joby Jose did not have the required experience to become a registrar under the UGC Regulations. So they kept the post out of the amendment list
Dr Shino Jose
The top university official insisted that the post of registrar was also sent to the government for amendment. But there is no evidence of that, according to the RTI replies from the Raj Bhavan.
The Governor on April 25, 2023, gave his assent to the university's 2020 proposal to amend the ordinances related to the recruitment of finance officer, controller of examination, joint registrar, deputy registrar, and assistant registrar. The post of registrar did not find a mention in the Governor's communique to the VC.
Another evident conflict of interest is that the university called for applications to the post of registrar in August 2022, and Joby Jose, a candidate, has been sitting on the post as in-charge since November 2021, said Shino Jose.
