Kerala: One More Shot In The Arm For Governor; High Court Says Priya Varghese Unqualified To Be Associate Professor

The Kerala High Court on Thursday (17 November) ruled that Priya Varghese, wife of KK Ragesh, the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s private secretary, was not qualified to be appointed as an associate professor of Malayalam at Kannur University.

In August 2022, Governor Arif Mohammad Khan had stayed her appointment on charges of nepotism.

The court was hearing a petition by Dr Joseph Scaria, an assistant professor who came second in the selection list. Media reports based on a Right to Information (RTI) plea had said that while Varghese’s research score was 156, Scaria’s was 651.

According to Dr Scaria, his academic credentials are much better and Varghese seems to have been selected due to Ragesh’s closeness to the Chief Minister.

Varghese had then said in her defence that the research scores were ‘auto-generated online’ while applying for the post and thus were not reliable.

The RTI reply also showed that while Varghese had scored 32 out of 50 in the interview, Scaria had scored 30.

Her appointment was cleared after she came first in the interview.

Those opposing her appointment said that she did not have the requisite teaching experience of 8 years after her PhD. They said that the Kannur University had wrongly calculated her teaching experience by including her time as assistant professor, the duration of her PhD (during which she did not teach students) and the time she served as student director in Kannur University.

The High Court ruled that such kind of work experience is not 'real teaching experience' and considering it is against the guidelines laid down by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Though the Court did not cancel the appointment, it asked the scrutiny committee to re-examine her appointment and the rank list in view of the verdict.

Also Read: Kerala: Governor Vindicated; High Court Quashes Appointment Of One More Vice Chancellor