Kannur: Kannur University's practice of allowing selected candidates to join duty without issuing appointment orders has drawn flak and fresh allegations of favouritism.
The "wrong practice" came to light when the whistleblower group Save University Campaign Committee (SUCC) moved an RTI query seeking a copy of the appointment order of Balakrishnan Padmavathi who joined the Department of Geography as an Assistant Professor in the Scheduled Caste category on December 27.
In its reply, Kannur University said the appointment order of Balakrishnan Padmavathi "has not been issued till date. A copy of the appointment order will be sent to you once it is issued".
Save University Campaign Committee's chairman R S Sivakumar said he has written to Chancellor Arif Muhammed Khan seeking action against Registrar Joby K Jose for allowing a candidate to join duty without an appointment order and also cancelling the appointment of the candidate.
He said of the seven candidates in the SC category, Balakrishnan was the only candidate without a doctoral degree.
To be sure, the Department of Geography had two posts of assistant professor - one in the open category and one in the SC category.
On December 22, a Friday, the High Court of Kerala "deferred" the appointment of Dr Sudeep T P as an assistant professor in the open category after it was challenged by second-rank holder Dr K B Bindu.
She challenged the appointment on two major grounds -- one, Dr Sudeep's PhD guide Prof Sachidananda Sinha from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was on the selection committee, in a direct conflict of interest; and two, after the Supreme Court quashed his reappointment as Vice Chancellor Prof Gopinath Ravindran on November 30, he nominated another professor to stand in as the chairman of the selection committee the same day.
In effect, the interviews and selection process held on November 29 and 30 were completed by two selection committees. This legal wrangle could affect Balakrishnan P's posting too.
On December 26, Monday - the first working day after the High Court's interim order - Registrar Joby K Jose issued an "appointment memo" to Balakrishnan and he joined duty the following day.
Vice-Chancellor Prof Nandan said he has called for a legal opinion on Balakrishnan's appointment from the university's standing counsel before issuing him an appointment order.
"Universities should take legal opinion before appointing a person, not after," said Sasikumar. "What if the candidate had quit a job to join Kannur University and the legal advice turned out to be adverse? Won't they lose both jobs?" he said.
Registrar Joby Jose said the "appointment memo" was issued to Balakrishnan because there was no legal challenge to the post. "Once the University Syndicate approves the rank list, the Registrar can issue the appointment memo to the first rank holder. An appointment order is given after the candidate joins duty. That's the practice," he said.
But on January 7, 2024, Dr Jincy P P challenged the appointment of Balakrishnan in the High Court of Kerala.
On January 9, Justice Mohammed Nias C P, in an interim order, said the selection and appointment of Balakrishnan as assistant professor would be provisional and subject to the result of Dr Jincy's writ petition. "That is why the Vice-Chancellor sought a legal opinion from the standing counsel," said the Registrar.
Advocate George Poonthottam, who has represented the Save University Campaign Committee in the High Court, said there is no provision for issuing an "appointment memo", particularly without the approval of the Vice Chancellor. "An appointee can join duty only on strength of an order of appointment issued by the Registrar with the written approval of the Vice Chancellor. The candidate should come to the university with the appointment order, not a memo," he said.
"If this is the practice the university is following, the practice is absolutely wrong," said Adv Poonthottam. When there is no order of appointment, there is no decision by the appointing authority to appoint a candidate, he said.
The university statute says the syndicate is the appointing authority. "In this case, the syndicate has only approved the rank list. Once the rank list is approved, it is the function of the Vice Chancellor to issue directions to the Registrar to issue the order of appointment. That order has not been issued in this case," he said.
He drew a parallel with recruitment done by the Kerala State Public Service Commission (PSC). "When PSC issues an advice memo, the employer, based on the advice memo, issues an appointment order," Adv Poonthottam. A candidate can report to join duty only after receiving the appointment order, he said.
Even though appointments are approved by the university's Syndicate, no appointment - be it of a Class IV employee or a faculty member - can be made without the written consent of the Vice Chancellor, said Dr Shino P Jose, Kannur regional president of Kerala Private College Teachers' Association. "The Registrar is trying to mislead the public by saying a memo is as good as an appointment order. He and the Department Head would have to answer in court," said Dr Jose, whose petition in the Supreme Court led to the exit of Vice Chancellor Prof Gopinath Ravindran.
