Thiruvananthapuram: A controversy is brewing as Kerala public works minister G Sudhakaran's wife Dr Jubilee Navaprabha takes over as chief of the self-financing institutions under the Kerala University. It has been alleged that qualifications were altered for her appointment at the Directorate of Management Technology and Education which oversees the varsity's self-financed institutions.
Her appointment order says the choice was based on an interview conducted this year. Though, the post was earlier occupied by university professors, it is said that the Syndicate took a decision so that retired teachers can also be appointed, ostensibly to accommodate the minister's wife.
Ten B Ed centers, 29 University Institutes of Technology, and seven management training centres are the self-financing institutions working directly under the varsity.
Dr Navaprabha has been appointed on a salary of Rs 35,000 per month and on a contract of one year.
In 2016, state industries and sports minister E P Jayarajan had resigned from chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan' government over allegations of nepotism. It was charged that the Kannur-based CPM heavyweight had appointed relatives to crucial posts in the state's public sector undertakings. His continuance in the ministry became untenable after it was found that he had appointed a close relative as managing director of a PSU.
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