The ruling CPM in Kerala, which is mired in allegations of politicising the education sector, got a major relief on Thursday as the Kerala High Court upheld the selection of Chief Minister's private secretary's wife as associate professor in a state university.
Selection of Priya Varghese, wife of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's private secretary and former MP K K Ragesh, as associate professor in the Kannur University, was upheld by a division bench by setting aside a single bench order to review the selection.
The alleged irregularities in the selection of Varghese was highlighted by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan earlier while alleging political interventions and nepotism in appointments in universities.
Moreover, the CPM government is now facing major embarrassment over back-to-back allegations like forging degree and experience certificates by leaders of its student outfit Students' Federation of India. Hence, the High Court order is a major relief for the Pinarayi Vijayan government.
The proposed appointment of Varghese to the post in question last year had triggered a huge political row as she had the lowest research score but the highest in the interview round and was declared first in the selection process.
Considering a petition of the second rank holder in the selection list, the single bench in last November observed that Varghese did not have the prescribed teaching experience of eight years as her service as National Service Scheme coordinator, the duration of research under the faculty development programme and service at State Institute of Languages could not be considered as teaching experience. But the division bench held that those could be considered as teaching experience.
Former SFI activist remanded
A former SFI activist held for forging an experience certificate was remanded by a local court in Palakkad on Thursday and sent to police custody for two days.
Vidya K, a former SFI activist of Maharaja's College in Kochi, was accused on forging a teaching experience certificate of the same college for seeking job in another college. Vidya was held from a hideout in Kozhikode on Wednesday evening.
The Congress alleged that CPM arranged a hideout for her.