Thiruvananthapuram: In an embarrassing development, the University of Kerala has failed to reimburse the travel expenses of Nobel laureate and renowned biophysicist Michael Levitt even after 10 months.

The biophysicist had travelled to Kerala from the US spending his own money for the flight tickets. Out of the around Rs 7 lakh which was to be reimbursed, Rs 3 lakh was paid by ASAP (Additional Skill Acquisition Programme) under the Higher Education Department.

Objections were raised over the payment of the remaining amount and following discussions, the Higher Education Council allotted the money in October this year. However, the amount is yet to be transferred to the 73-year-old as the file has been caught in red tape at the Kerala University.

Incidentally, Levitt had arrived in Kerala in January 2020 on the invitation of the state government to deliver a lecture. The scientist, who is an admirer of Kerala, had visited the state in 2010 also for a lecture. This time, his main programme was a lecture at the Kerala University organised under the aegis of the Higher Education Council. He also took part in an event organised by ASAP at CUSAT, Kochi.

After the official engagements, Levitt and his wife travelled to the popular tourist destination Kumarakom for a houseboat trip on the backwaters. However, he was blocked by some people there citing a strike call and this unsavoury incident hit the headlines. At that time, Levitt had commented that such incidents would do no good for Kerala, following which Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran issued a public apology to the scientist.

The South African-born biophysicist has been associated with the Stanford University since the late 1980s. He had won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2013.