Kannur University has now become a rehabilitation centre for the relatives of senior Marxist leaders and sympathisers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the leading ruling party in Kerala. The varsity also has the reputation of being the first university in Kerala to reappoint a Vice-Chancellor. The reappointment of Prof Gopinath Ravindran recently as the Vice-Chancellor of Kannur University apparently enraged Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan so much so that he lashed out against the excessive political interference in universities.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan even told a news conference in Kannur on Sunday that there will be 'special interventions' to improve the quality of the higher education sector. Such meddling mostly happen in the university located in the Chief Minister's home district and CPM stronghold, Kannur.
Rules and norms are often thrown to the wind for appointing the relatives of Leftist leaders too.
A notable aspect in the controversial appointments in the Kannur University is that the CPM finds loopholes to justify itself. Strange justifications are given to convey nothing is ultra vires.
How Prof Ravindran was reappointed?
As per the norms of the University Grants Commission, the Search Committee for appointing vice-chancellors should submit a panel of three to five candidates. However, as per Kannur University norms, the names of three to five candidates need not be submitted: even a single name would suffice.
The Search Committee, however, adhered to the varsity norm when it nominated Prof Ravindran as the vice-chancellor in 2007. Now, the norms have been blatantly ignored while reappointing him. The University Act clearly mandates that the vice-chancellor should be appointed only after completing all formalities. However, except for setting up a Search Committee on October 27, no other procedure was followed. The committee was disbanded on November 22, apparently to avoid legal issues. Incidentally, the Governor himself had issued the order to disband the committee.
As many as 20 candidates had applied for the post of vice-chancellor. But Prof Ravindran was reappointed in a dramatic fashion on November 23, the day on which he was to step down.
Though the University law has mandated an age ceiling of 60 for applicants, Prof Ravindran, aged 61, was given exemption.
The VC had qualms in defending his appointment.
"The Governor appointed me. You should ask those appointed me whether they was politics in my appointment. Though reappointment is new to Kerala, it is common in other States. Appointing those aged above 60 is also not new. I have not thought of quitting. No political appointment has been made in the university while I was the Vice-Chancellor," Prof Ravindran stated.
The chief minister did not provide a clear response to queries on the reappointment of Prof Ravindran at Sunday's news conference. Instead, he said it was the Search Committee's prerogative to recommend a name or submit a panel of more than one candidate. The State government has no role in it, the Chief Minister said, adding that it was the Governor who had issued the order appointing the Kannur vice-chancellor.
The chief minister, however, did not mention the disbanding of the Search Committee, and that the vice-chancellor was appointed without the panel's recommendation.
If the Search Committee was not disbanded it might have objected to his reappointment by pointing out his age.
Incidentally, the reappointment of the vice-chancellor was not officially communicated to the Department of Higher Education. It is yet to be known who all had pulled the strings to win Prof Ravindran a second term.
Two letters, purportedly written by the Minister of Higher Education, R Bindu, were leaked to the media on Monday. The letters asked the Governor to reappoint Prof Gopinath and to cancel the notification he had issued to appoint the Search Committee.
Pro vice-chancellor too retained
The irregularity did not stop with the reappointment of the vice-chancellor. It extended to the reappointment of pro vice-chancellor (PVC) Dr S Abdulhameed as well at the same university.
The Syndicate is the rightful body to appoint the PVC. In Kannur, the vice-chancellor appointed the PVC, and issued a note to inform the Syndicate slated to convene the next day.
The university justified the vice-chancellor, pointing out the co-termination clause, which mandated the PVC to step down along with the vice-chancellor. Since the vice-chancellor has been reappointed, the university argued that Dr Abdulhameed could continue in office.
Dr Abdulhameed was a member of the Selection Committee that short-listed candidates for appointment to the university, which recently courted controversy over charges of nepotism.
Who teaches Gandhian Thought!
Even the Kottayam-based Mahatma Gandhi University has been often in the news for rampant violation of norms. The latest instance in this regard that has come to light pertains to the faculty in its School of Gandhian Thought and Development Studies. Shockingly, out of the 14 teachers in this department only one has studied Gandhian Thought. The justification provided by the authorities is strange: since all Humanities encompasses Gandhism, anyone who had pursued any one of the academic disciplines under it could teach Gandhian Thought!
True to its justification, the university has not appointed anyone from the Science stream in the School. It is alleged those who had pursued Gandhian Thought were rejected during the recruitment process. All the appointees are close to prominent personalities and four are former leaders of the Students Federation of India, an affiliate of the Marxist party.
The vice-chancellor did not attend the interview, even though the university rules mandated his attendance. Of the 275 applicants, 150 were highly qualified alumni of the School. Of those appointed, one held a degree in Commerce, and Masters in Foreign Trade. Another applicant published a paper in the journal he has been editing and that too after applying for the teaching position.
The irony is that the appointments were made to a faculty set up to teach the philosophy of a man who had dedicated his whole life in pursuit of truth!
Appointments made in party office
Such is the state of affairs the appointments to 250 temporary posts of Last-Grade employees in universities were finalised in the CPM office. In such cases the university publishes the final list after the initial rank list is prepared in the party office. Prominent party leaders are behind such lists drawn up to recruit acolytes.
The modus operandi for such party recruitments is interesting. Incidentally, appointments are made through the Employment Exchange as per the rules. Vacancies are first reported to the Employment Exchange. The exchange provides a list of candidates who can be appointed. After appointing 10 people, the university freezes further appointments till the validity of the list expires after six months.
After six months, the departments concerned inform the university of the vacancies and cite the expiry of the list. The university then directly appoints the employees.
Refuge of party favourites
Kannur University has become the rehabilitation centre of CPM favourites. The appointment of the spouses of party leaders was even questioned in the court.
A candidate with 111 published articles to his credit was among those short-listed for a recent interview conducted by the university. However, such eligibility is considered only during the initial round. The authority to award the first rank, however, rests with a committee which has the vice-chancellor as its chairman. Kannur University also has a separate 'accommodation package' for the favourites of teachers' organisations as well.
Assistant professors in government and aided colleges require 14 to 15 years to become an associate professor. In universities, direct appointment to the post of associate professor is possible if the candidate has the basic qualification of eight years of teaching experience, PhD, and eight published articles. While the retirement age of college staff is 56, it is 60 for teachers in universities.
Promotions in universities, too, are much faster than in colleges, provided the candidate has the part blessings. A college association leader, with eight months to retire from service, was recently appointed as an associated professor in Kannur University. This teacher was earlier debarred by the Public Service Commission in connection with the leak of question paper. He was working in an aided college in Kozhikode before he was appointed in Kannur.
In another controversy, the vice-chancellor invoked his special rights to promote a teacher as professor, despite the person being rejected by the promotion committee.
The relative of a party leader from Kozhikode was also appointed in Kannur. The leader was an accused in the TP Chandrasekharan murder case. The relative, an assistant Physics professor in a government college, was appointed as an assistant professor in the university's Department of Information Technology, and was soon granted a promotion.
KAU is CPI's fiefdom
Even as the CPM took control of all universities, the Communist Party of India (CPI), the second largest constituent in the Left Democratic Front, intervened at all levels in the Kerala Agricultural University, which comes under one of the portfolios it holds in the State cabinet.
A party-affiliated organisation's leader is in charge of appointments of temporary non-teaching staff. Among the qualifications required for appointments is membership in the party's youth organisation, and an annual subscription to the party's mouthpiece.
The leader's kith and kin are appointed for the jobs of security, canteen manager, ayah in school etc.
Such appointees have been heading the university's research departments, and Krishi Vigyan Kendras for the past 16 years. The directors of the university are also party favourites.
As a result of rampant favouritism in recruitment the academic standards have plummeted. In the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) ranking the Kerala Agricultural University ranked first 10 years ago, but it nose-dived to the 28th position later and was ranked 19 last year.
The ICAR observed that the university had lost its academic and research excellence. The low ICAR ranking will also affect the award of grants to the university.
The qualifications of its vice-chancellor are under probe.
The university had invited applications to the post of directors from senior teachers 10 years ago. Though several applications were received, the university did not make any follow-up action.
Jobs for cash
Appointments to more than 55 teaching posts in the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, is in the final stages. It is alleged that the process is being carried out in contravention of the rules and a court order. Litigation is also on challenging the university's move. Despite the allegations, the university issued notification to fill up about 40 posts a month ago.
The High Court of Kerala had observed that the appointment of department heads was in breach of University statute. Still, the same department heads are scrutinising the applications and conducting interviews.
Incidentally, the university made assistant professors as department heads despite having several qualified professors and associate professors. An assistant professor of the Department of Sociology is a member of the panel constituted to recruit Psychology teachers.
Defying a 2018 UGC directive, post-graduates in Sanskrit Sahitya and Vedanta were drafted in to interview candidates seeking appointment in the Sanskrit General Studies.
The Save Kalady University Forum alleged that lakhs of rupees were taken as bribes for appointment to various posts. Candidates are willing to shell out money since they would get a prolonged tenure in the university than in colleges.
The Forum alleged that a former functionary of a prominent teachers' association in the university is behind the "auctioning" of posts. The interview board was also set up with the favourites of prominent leaders.
This is the second part of a series on administration of universities in Kerala. Read first part here: Kerala varsities venue of political games, these instances are just the tip of the iceberg
Tomorrow: Even as politics tightens its grip, the administration of universities, too, is heading towards more trouble, jeopardising the future of students.
Prepared by: Renji Kuriakose, Unni K Warrier, Jayachandran Elankath, K Jayaprakash Babu, R Krishnaraj, Arun Ezhuthachan, M R Harikumar and Sajesh Karanattukara.
Compiled by: Nidhish Chandran
