Kerala Governor Dr Arif Mohammad Khan has long been highlighting rampant nepotism and corruption in the state where the ruling CPM finds ways to appease its party workers by giving them government jobs. In a recent development, a controversy erupted when a candidate named Priya Varghese was selected as an Associate Professor of Malayalam at Kannur University.
Priya Varghese is the wife of KK Ragesh, a CPM leader and the private secretary of CM Pinarayi Vijayan. Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has used his powers as the chancellor of universities to cancel the appointment. The decision has come a day after Kannur University Vice Chancellor stated that there were no irregularities in the appointment process of Priya Varghese.
Governor Arif Mohammed Khan stays the controversial selection of Priya Varghese, wife of CM's private secretary K K Ragesh, to the post of associate professor in Kannur university #Nepotism #corruption #highereducation #Kerala pic.twitter.com/d2GnFhSLBi
— B S Anilkumar (@AnilkumarbsTOI) August 17, 2022
Using the specific provisions in the Kannur University Act, 1996, the Governor has stayed all further proceedings pursuant to the selection procedure for the appointment of the associate professor in the department of Malayalam, with immediate effect, until further notice. The governor has also sent show-cause notices to all stakeholders in the selection process.
Other candidates had higher scores
Many organisations, like the ‘Save Universities Campaign’ and candidates, had objected to Priya Vargheses’ selection for the post. A candidate named Joseph Scariah scored 651 and was in the second position in the list. Another candidate who had scored above Priya had also complained. It is notable here that Priya Varghese, the wife of the CPM leader had the ‘lowest score’ of 156 among 6 candidates, but she was declared the top candidate in the rank list after an interview conducted by a committee led by the vice-chancellor. An RTI query revealed that Priya was selected for the post despite the ‘lowest’ score.
The RTI also revealed that Priya’s non-teaching experience was included as teaching experience by the University.
