A division bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday, June 22, set aside a single bench order against the appointment of Priya Varghese — the wife of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's private secretary — as an Associate Professor for Malayalam in the Kannur University. The single bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran had issued the order on November 17 last year, while hearing a petition filed by Joseph Skaria who came second to Priya in the university mark list. At the time, the judge had stated that Priya did not have the relevant period of teaching experience as stipulated under the University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations of 2018. Priya later moved an appeal in the HC, arguing that the single bench’s order was based on an erroneous appreciation of facts.
The division bench, accepting the appellant’s plea, said that the period Priya spent pursuing her PhD under the Faculty Development Programme cannot be excluded while deciding her “teaching/research” experience. It also stressed on the need to examine the extent to which research and community outreach programmes are recognised as integral aspects of pedagogy under the Indian model of higher education. It further cited the Humboldtian model of higher education, which emphasised that arts and sciences should be combined with research for a comprehensive general education and better cultural understanding.
Besides, the division bench pointed out, the single bench had essentially relied on the appellant’s own statement that while she was on deputation to the Kannur University as Director of Student Services/ Project Coordinator of the National Service Scheme (NSS), her job did not involve teaching in the strict sense of the term. “In our view, the answer to the question as to whether or not the experience gained by a teacher, while on deputation to a non-teaching post, qualifies as teaching experience must depend on the nature of the activities undertaken by the teacher … and not merely by the classification as teaching or non-teaching,” the division bench said.
The division bench’s cancellation of the single-bench verdict has come as a setback to the Chancellor of State Universities and Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who first stayed her appointment. Priya’s husband, KK Ragesh, is a former Rajya Sabha member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) - CPI(M). He hails from Kannur and is said to be close to Pinarayi Vijayan.
Reacting to the division bench order, Joseph Skaria said he will speak to his legal counsel and act accordingly. After going through the new verdict, he will consider moving the Supreme Court, he said. “This verdict now appears to be in violation of the UGC 2018 guidelines as it clearly states that the period of three years that she took to do her PhD cannot be counted as teaching experience. Besides, her service, while acting as student director, also cannot be included as teaching experience,” he added.
Meanwhile, Priya expressed happiness with the verdict saying, “I was deeply pained by various media reports then, but now I am happy that I have been proved right.”
The controversy surfaced last year after an RTI query revealed that while Priya got the maximum marks (32 out of 50) in her personal interview, with Jacob scoring 30, her research score was only 156, while Jacob secured 651. She was ranked first based on the personal interview.
With IANS inputs
